Yu-Gi-Oh! Dimensional Duels, Pt 1: Duelist Kingdom
by Vulpimaru
Summary: Even the tiniest changes in the course of history can lead to some weird results. Enter Draco, a shape changing Gagagigo Duel Monster spirit who dreams of becoming a great knight like his clan's namesake, and a slightly crazy high school girl who met by some twist of fate, and alter many dimensions' histories. My first Fanfiction. Current Arc: Duelist Kingdom Arc.
1. Prologue

**To whoever is reading this story, I deeply thank you for giving my first fanfiction a shot. I wouldn't have had the courage to post this had I not been given supportive advice from my author role models. I hope you enjoy this story, and will strive to meet your expectations.** **The first four chapters are going through a revision, and anyone who can point out my mistakes only needs to PM me about it and I will see what I can do!** **  
And now for the disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of it's spinoffs, only my OCs and my own custom story arcs and concepts.**

 **It's time to Duel!**

* * *

Prologue

Lizzie Calhoun was walking home from school after a long, miserable day of being taunted by her classmates, terribly taught classes and more torment from her peers. She had ponytailed blue-black hair, with lightly tanned skin and sky blue eyes and wore glasses to help her see properly. As she walked by the local cemetery, she thought of her parents, who had died in an archeological accident on a trip to Egypt about ten years ago and her uncle Innes disappearing two years after that, leaving her in the care of Aunt Dana.

She shuddered at the thought of her aunt ' _it's not that she is a bad person, but she seems to be too busy with her job lately to spend time with me, or even her own children, leaving me to care for the house_.' She smiled when her cousins Cynthia and Seymour came to mind, a sweet, considerate seven year-old girl and a cute, mischievous five year-old boy who were Lizzie's favorite, and perhaps only real reason to return home, as they loved the stories she came up with to entertain them, which in turn lightened her heart. She passed the elementary school Cynthia went to, then walked downtown.

Lizzie started browsing the stores to compare the prices, then stared thinking about where to buy herself and her to cousins' next meal _' I could try the local Asian restaurant, but the main courses almost all include meat or fish, which make me sick whenever I eat them, and if I took Seymour to a fast food joint, Aunt Dana would be furious so that's out of the_ question...' eventually, she decided on a cheap, but decent quality pizza parlor and bought some pizza to go, then headed home to have dinner with her cousins.

Lizzie walked up to the door of the two-story blue painted house with the pizzas in her arms, then put the food down, and opened the door- only to be tackled by her cousin Seymour "Liz-Liiiiiz! You're finally back!" a child's voice came from the other side of the room, which turned out to be Cynthia. Cynthia and Seymour both had golden blonde hair, while Seymour had amber eyes, and Cynthia had ice blue eyes. "hiya, Cynthi, hey there Sey'!" She called her cousins by their nicknames with enthusiasm "Guess what I got us for dinner?", then gestured to the food lying next to her. upon seeing the box of baked goodness, Seymour squealed with recognition and delight "Pizza!" and proceeded to make a mad dash for the dining room, while Cynthia and Lizzie gazed in the direction he sped towards when they heard some things fall over, and grinned in response to Seymour's high-pitched shout of "I meant to do that!" then headed to help him pick things up and set the table.

At dinner, the three had what seemed to start as a normal conversation, but Lizzie seemed to notice something appeared to be wrong with Seymour. He would often look around the room at things that weren't there, and often seemed to be listening to something at random moments even though no one else could hear it _'Not exactly something new for him_ ' Lizzie thought as she took another bite from her vegetarian pizza slice, then frowned mildly _' But this time is different, he actually looks deeply concerned about something... this hasn't ever happened before until these past couple weeks, and not ever this bad'._

Deciding to figure out what was wrong, Lizzie began to speak with her youngest cousin "Hey, big guy, what's eating you? you look troubled..." Seymour turned his head towards her, then tilted his head to the side "What? It's nothi..." he stopped partway through his sentence, listened to an unheard sound and nodded to no one in particular, then continued "Liz-Liz, can we please talk alone after dinner? It's... important." Lizzie seemed confused, did somebody at school give him a hassle again today, too?

Seymour was encouraged by his mom to be a quick learner, something about getting an academic job or something, and thus his vocabulary was significantly broader than others his age. Because of these things, he was bullied by his peers, much like Lizzie was, so the two of them spent a lot of time talking in private. _'_ _Though this time it may be something different."_ she thought before smiling warmly at her cousin "Sure, Sey, We'll talk after I've cleaned up the dishes, ok?" Lizzie finished her last pizza slice, got up from her chair, and started putting away the leftovers, still wondering what was happening to Seymour to have him acting this way.

* * *

As it turned out, Seymour had been having nightmares about Uncle Innes, my parents and monsters, of all things! What was strange was that he claimed to see and hear spirits, and that they were warning them about something bad that would happen to her tonight. Of course, Lizzie didn't really believe this part, and thought it was part of an overly wild imagination, smiled and sent him to bed before going out for her evening stroll. _'_ _It just seemed so_ unreal' she mused _'that he could see something that can't be proven or explained. I hope he hasn't gone crazy, but then again, I'm kind of crazy in my own right, so maybe...'_

Lizzie was lost in her thoughts until she heard a barely audible voice 'he*p *s'. She turned towards where she thought she heard the voice, only to notice an abandoned warehouse down an alley. Now Lizzie knew that there were no such things as ghosts or monsters, but she knew that street gangs did, so she started to walk away…. 'Help u*…. Please' she heard the voice a bit clearer this time and came to an abrupt halt.

She started to remember what her uncle taught her before going on an archeological expedition many years back that she always clung to " _True the world is a cruel and dangerous place, but always remember this: every good, honorable deed helps makes the world a better place for everyone to live in, so if somebody needs your help, please, do so_." Lizzie looked towards the warehouse again, sighed deeply "What the heck am I doing?" she thought aloud as she sprinted towards the old building.

* * *

Inside the warehouse, Lizzie searched the place for the one calling for help. The warehouse looked like it had seen better days, cobwebs littered the building, and most of the things left in there had rotted or rusted beyond recovery, but no matter how much she looked, nobody was in there. She seemed ready to give up and call it a night until she heard whimpering coming from the far end of the building. When she checked over there, she found a boy around the age of nine years old curled up behind a pile of crates.

He had light blue-green hair that covered his eyes and wore clothes that looked like they belonged in the Middle Ages. She walked towards the child and tried to tap him on the shoulder "Hey there, are you oka-"she drew her hand back after her hand passed *directly through* the kid!

Lizzie blinked at the kid curled up on the floor, then stared with her mouth wide open. ' _I think I'm hallucinating, if not then I'd better rethink my sense of logical possibilities. Now which one is worse; going crazy, or-'_

her train of thought was interrupted by another voice, this time she was disturbed by the fact that it came from everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time 'If you wish to help the boy, and find answers about your lost loved one, state your name to the Stone of Ages'.

She looked around and noticed everything suddenly turned pitch-black, the only thing visible being a massive stone tablet with strange hieroglyphs covering it from top to bottom. She cautiously walked up to the tablet, and noticed something strange ' _while it looked full from a distance, it wasn't even close. The inscription is incomplete!_ Shaking her head she muttered to nobody in particular "Well, if this is a bad dream, I'd better get it over with….. My name is Elizabeth Calhoun!"

the moment her name was uttered, hieroglyphs began to etch themselves into the tablet's surface, then everything went white…

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

The first thing Lizzie noticed when she awoke was that she was no longer in the warehouse. The second thing, she noted, was that she appeared to be in some kind of old-fashioned tent. She then felt very cold water splashed in her face. She flailed about on the ground then jolted upright, fully awake and aware of the contents of the tent.

Several survival and food preserving items were neatly placed on one end, a large amount of weird looking cards littering the other, and a strange bipedal reptile crouching down next to her. Normally something like this would totally freak her out, but she didn't, she even felt almost… safe with it nearby, for some strange reason.

The lizardman then spoke to her in in a rough, mild Scottish accent "oi, are you alright lass? I found you lying by the river that way. Did something happen up north I didn't hear about? Where are you from anyways?" upon closer inspection, the monster had blue-green scales, spikes on his shoulders, elbows and knees, and webbed claws for hands, cloth wrappings covered his wrists, in addition, he wore a silver pendant around his neck.

Lizzie paused for a moment before carefully asking "umm… I'm sorry, but who and, uh, what are you, and where exactly *am* I? I don't remember there being a river near my neighborhood." The lizard monster stared at me with slight interest "ahem, my apologies, I was so busy asking you question after question that I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Draco, I am a monster known as Gagagigo, and am the first of my species to aspire to become a knight. Would you care to introduce yourself next?" Lizzie smiled lightly ' _a lizard monster that dreams of becoming a knight? This is getting more interesting by the minute_ ' she thought, then answered honestly "my name is Elizabeth, but everybody calls me Liz or Lizzie. And in the order that you asked me, yes, I'm okay, I have no idea where I am or what is going on in the nearby area, and lastly, I'm from the United States, in the state of Florida, which I would bet is not on your maps. It's nice to meet you, by the way, Draco."

The monster grinned, or at least it looked like a grin to Lizzie "Aye, it's nice to meet you too, miss, errr, Liz. Now, while you are correct that your homeland doesn't show up on our world's atlas, that doesn't mean we here in the Mythic Realms don't know of it," Lizzie looked a little surprised at that, and tucked the information she just obtained away, including the name of the dimension she was in " Maybe I can help you get home. Our worlds are connected, after all, and I've been itching to see another dimension for a change!" Lizzie was at a loss for words for a minute or so. ' _Our worlds are connected? Maybe I can get home!_ ' she thought, not fully realizing that she had stopped thinking this was a dream. After a long moment of silence, she asked "so, can you really get me home? My cousins can't be left alone for very long, and my aunt would kill me if I wasn't there to take care of them…" she frowned, realizing that she had no idea how long she was out.

What Draco said next shocked her "well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, lass, but you were unconscious for an entire week. I had to take care of you the entire time! I'm sorry, but you've probably been missing for quite some time, for time flows differently in this dimension." He stated in a sad tone. Lizzie started to tear up, not wanting to believe what she had just heard, as for all she knew, she could have been gone for decades. "What am I going to do now?" she whispered to herself fearfully

* * *

It took Draco a half hour of comforting to return Lizzie to her normal self, then they exchanged information on each other's dimensions as they walked to the Ether Gateway. As it turned out, the Mythic Realms were a collective of dimensions in which humans and monsters were able to coexist, and even doing so there was considered a normal part of everyday life. as Draco was explaining, he missed a turn on the road with Lizzie haplessly following his lead, leading them into a den of wolf-like monsters "No! Bad doggies, BAD doggies!" she cried out as they rummaged through her things using their snouts, intrigued by the scents inside. Draco shook his head "Well, this isn't what I expected to happen." the wolves began tearing at the textbooks Lizzie was planning to look through the other night, much to her annoyance, and one of their cubs found a new place to sleep on top of the reptile monster's head "usually when I get lost, it's not near as mundane as this!" Lizzie looked at Draco with wide, bewildered eyes "Are you for real? we went from the Saldoa Hills where we started, to a forest fifty miles away and into a wolf den! How is *that* normal!?' she shouted above the wolves' howling. The aspiring knight shrugged his shoulders as they scavenged what they could from Lizzie's belongings.

Despite the wolf-den incident, Lizzie and Draco quickly began to become friends , even telling each other about their everyday lives. Draco was part of a monster clan that revered a legendary knight from another world who was transformed into a dragon, and sealed away in yet another dimension where only monsters lived, and they even adopted the knight's name as their own. A few hours of travel later, the duo reached what looked like a stone gateway "this is the closest Ether Gateway to Earth for a hundred miles. It should lead to the country known as Japan, if I'm correct. I'll follow you through to make sure you catch a boat to your homeland, then find my way back here." , and despite the bond they had made, it was almost time for the two to go their separate ways. "Well, this is it. Are you ready to head back to your world, Liz?" Draco asked. The other nodded, and as the Gateway opened, the two of them leapt in. little did they know that this was merely the beginning of many adventures to come.

Elsewhere, a boy with spiky blonde and purple hair was playing a card game with one of his friends at High School, while their other friends watched. These were Yugi Muto and his group of close friends, and soon these two groups will meet, and history will be written anew.

* * *

 **And that's the beginning of my very first Fanfiction on this website. I thank anyone willing to take time to read this, and hope you enjoyed it. I thought I would add a little bit about Lizzie and her cousins lives, and show one of Draco's may flaws, among other things.**

 **Until the next duel!**


	2. Chapter 1 Domino City and Chance Cup

**Here it is, Chapter 1! This chapter will take place in a mini arc between Yugi's victory against Kaiba, and when Yugi's Grandpa gets his soul kidnapped by Pegasus.** **I have also just revised this chapter, improving things here and there.** **Now then on with the disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, or any of it's spinoffs. All content belongs to it's respective owners. I only take credit for my OCs and custom arcs. I have also just revised this chapter, improving things here and there.**

* * *

Chapter 1, Domino City and the Chance Cup

* * *

Draco and Lizzie exited the Ether Gateway only for it to disappear behind them. Lizzie noticed that for some reason Draco had been replaced by a teal-haired teenager with light green eyes, wearing a white t-shirt and khaki shorts.

It took her only a moment to recognize that it was still Draco "Draco? How did you do that!? You're-" She started before Draco interrupted her "Human? I know, I'll explain later, I promise. Now, let's see where in Japan we actually are at the moment." ' _Well that seemed kind of rude, cutting me off while I speak!_ ' Lizzie thought grumpily as he went to a nearby bus stop, bought a local guide map and started reading. Lizzie walked over to his side and tried to read over Draco's shoulder ' _It's a good thing I took lessons in Japanese back in school, otherwise I wouldn't be able to read this. Which brings about the question: how the heck is Draco able to even read, or even buy this?! He comes from another dang dimension, he shouldn't be able to read Earth languages *period*_ ' . Just when she started reading the guide, Draco grunted in annoyance, which caused Lizzie to flinch slightly "Sorry, I just wanted to check the guide, because I can't afford to buy my own…" she tried to apologize, only for Draco to shake his head miserably and say "No Lassie, I should be apologizing to you, for I've let you down"

Lizzie had a puzzled expression on her face "why do you say that? You got me back to my world didn't you? So there's nothing to worry about, right?" she asked with a worried tone. "Not quite, Lady Liz. Look here." He pointed to the local map "we are currently in Domino City. Now in all of your studies on Japan, and I know you extensively studied whatever you could on the subject, did you ever read of a major city called Domino?" .

Lizzie thought about this hard as several people passed by, and the urban noise continued. Finally she answered "You're right, there is no Domino City in Japan, unless..." then it all clicked in her mind "oh no. You don't think…!" Draco nodded gloomily "I'm afraid I miscalculated. While we did get sent to 'Earth', we still got sent to the wrong dimension. In essence, we are now in a parallel dimension where history took a different course. Here many disputes can and have been solved by playing a popular card game with monsters like me in them. They call it 'Duel Monsters', or so I remember." he explained.

Lizzie's eyes widened in shock briefly, but she quickly managed to calm herself. "Ok, so if we're going to be stuck here for awhile, I guess we should try to find a game shop and learn how to play this 'Duel Monsters' game. Sounds fun, right Draco?" As Lizzie grinned when she stated this, Draco stared at her with a look that practically said 'seriously?', then shrugged and said "Suit yourself, I'll play along. But remember what's most important, ok?" Lizzie dutifully agreed, still remembering that she needed to get home before her family and small handful of friends got too worried.

* * *

About three and a half hours later involving asking for directions, Lizzie getting pickpocketed, dropping the map down a sewer grate, accidentally stopping a bank robbery and Draco getting them hopelessly lost twice, the pair of dimensional travelers wound up at a small game shop. "Kame Games. Does this look good enough for you?" Lizzie bobbed her head up and down excitedly "Yeah, yeah, yeah! This is perfect, a humble start is often the best, isn't that right? Imagine, champion material Duel Monsters players starting off in a small game shop!" She jogged in place while saying this enthusiastically. _'Overly enthusiastic in my opinion' Draco thought with a sweat drop and a small frown 'I've only known Lady Liz for a few hours, and I can already tell that her erratic personality is going to be more than a handful_ …' although he did observe that the human seemed to have developed a coping system in which she forced herself to act happy when extremely depressed, guessing her sorrow being visible earlier due to the initial shock of the likely chance that she could have been missing for years in her dimension.

The duo walked into the shop, and saw an old man wearing overalls, presumably the shop owner, checking the stock. Draco walked up to the man and cleared his throat. The elderly man turned around, and addressed him "ah, welcome sirs, may I help you today? I have a decent selection of games in stock, if you're interested." Draco chuckled as Lizzie smirked at the concept of somebody mistaking her for a guy, then the disguised monster answered respectfully "That would be nice sir. You see, we would like to purchase some Duel Monsters cards, and *she*" he pointed his thumb behind him toward Lizzie "would like to be taught how to play the game." The man looked at them for a short moment, Lizzie in particular, now realizing she was a woman, then smiled in a way that Lizzie could describe as grandfatherly "very well, I think I can arrange some lessons for your… lady friend? Plus my other pupils could use some student rivalry. By the way, I believe we should introduce ourselves first, my name is Solomon Moto, I own this shop, and what are you two named?"

After the introductions and a first-time customer discount, the two friends were allowed to pick the cards for their decks, with Solomon helping Lizzie while Draco built his own deck on his own, having apparently been familiar enough with the game to work on his deck by himself. Lizzie looked through the cards, fascinated by their great variety "Hey, Mr. Moto, what kind of card is this? it looks pretty neat! and what about these ones?" Solomon looked at the cards she was referring to "that card is a reptile type monster, Gale Lizard. Its great for returning strong monsters back to your opponent's hand, and these two are Ceasefire and Magic Cylinder, both are good traps for dealing damage to the other duelist's life points, but Ceasefire can also be used to foil the flip effects of enemy monsters, while Magic Cylinder..."

Eventually Lizzie settled with a Reptile-Themed deck, and Draco finished his deck as well. Just when they were finished the door opened and five teenagers walked in. One of them was short, with his hair being part blonde, part purple and had violet eyes like Solomon, he wore a blue jacket with a black shirt underneath with pants, as well as a pyramid-shaped pendant with an Egyptian-styled eye on the front. Another had dirty blonde hair, hazel eyes, and wore blue jeans, a white t-shirt and an open green jacket with a raised collar, he looked to be around Lizzie's age. The third person had lightly tanned skin, brown hair and eyes, and wore a long brown coat, a white shirt beneath that and some black jeans. His hair spiked forward in a pretty ridiculous manner in both Draco's and Lizzie's opinions, but neither bothered to mention it. The fourth teenager was a girl Lizzie's age with brown hair and blue eyes, she wore a pink coat with a fancy white shirt beneath it and a blue tie. The last one seemed to trail behind the rest, he had short brown hair and steel-grey eyes, and he wore a plain black shirt and blue camo shorts, with two black bracelets on his arms. The boy with the pendant said "Grandpa, I'm home! Oh, hi there. Are you two here card shopping?" Draco smiled "Yes, we came here to buy Duel Monster cards for our first dueling decks. I'm Draco, and this is my friend Liz. She is going learning to play the game for the very first time here with Mr. Moto. What are your names?" the blonde/purple haired kid introduced himself first "my name is Yugi Moto, my grandpa runs this game shop, and these are my friends." the blonde haired teen waved his hand and spoke with a Brooklyn accent "what's up, man? The name's Joey Wheeler, future dueling champion. Nice to meet ya!" the one with the black bracelets was the next to introduce himself, and he did so with a calm, even-toned voice "I'm Michael, and I've just started learning to play Duel Monsters like you two and Joey here are. Pleased to make your acquaintance." The tan skinned teenager was next to introduce himself "I'm Tristan Taylor, and this is Téa Gardner." The only girl of the group, apparently named Téa gave the two newcomers a warm smile "we're not training with Yugi's Grandpa like you two, but still I think we will be good friends." Lizzie returned the smile with another one "Likewise, I truly hope we can be great friends too! Maybe we can chat between training sessions"

* * *

The day went on from there starting with lessons on the rules of Duel Monsters: Each player starts with 2000 life points, or LP, and uses a deck ranging from 40 to 60 cards. Whoever brings the other player's LP to 0 is the winner. Players summon monster cards to do battle with the other player's monsters. Monsters have two types of fighting positions, each with a certain number of points each, the two positions being Attack Mode, or Atk and Defense Mode, or Def. the one with the higher attack or defense points than the other monster's attack or defense points, based on their position wins the fight and deals Life point damage if the destroyed monster was in attack mode. In addition to monsters there are also spell cards, which can be played the turn they are put on the field, and traps which have to be set face-down for a turn before use.

After the basics of the game were shown to the two rookies, they ended up hanging out with Yugi and the others for the day. they went to the park for lunch, and eventually Téa started a small conversation with Lizzie as the group ate "So, Lizzie, where are you from? you haven't told us yet." Lizzie looked up from a cup of veggie ramen and smiled "Well, I come from Florida, but my dad came from Ireland, and moved to the U.S. so that be with mom , apparently." Téa noticed a slight tinge of sadness upon mention of the other girl's parents, but decided not to pry, instead changing the subject "How exactly are you and that Draco guy related?" Lizzie continued to demolish her ramen cup at an alarming rate before she finally responded "Well, we met recently and found that we got along well, so we're traveling together for awhile." She finished her noodle cup, then looked around and noted the others current conditions, including Michael, who had been running from Tristan after planting ice cubes under the latter's shirt. Then everyone present did a double take on their appearances. apparently while the girls were conversing, Michael had the audacity to start a food fight, and some of the boys ended up getting quite messy. Joey had noodles splattered across his face, and tomato stains on his white t-shirt, Tristan had carrots stuffed up his nose and what was left of Draco's rice ball was plastered on the back of Tristan's pants, but surprisingly, Draco himself was nowhere to be found. Michael himself was by far the worst off, his entire body was drenched in broth, he had sushi stuck conveniently to where his eyes were supposed to be, and his hair was protruding forward, making his hair look nearly identical to Tristan's. Everyone stared at each other, then themselves and laughed their heads off, before they all headed home to clean up while Lizzie went to look for Draco. Lizzie guessed that he got lost again and sighed wearily _'This is going to take awhile. Last time, he ended up at a bank during a robbery, and I found him doing unspeakable things to the thugs with a cane, a soccer ball and a set of silverware.'_ she shivered upon remembering what she had witnessed and set off to find her friend before he got himself into even more trouble.

Lizzie found Draco wandering around the foot of a skyscraper belonging to some company Lizzie didn't recognize and called his name. Draco turned and greeted her "oh, hello milady. Sorry I left but food fights just aren't my thing" he grimaced as he continued speaking "that and Michael stole my rice ball for it, how rude of him!"

Lizzie chuckled lightly and looked around. The skyscraper belonged to a company called Kaibacorp, while the surrounding area consisted of a courtyard and several smaller businesses. Lizzie then asked Draco some questions as they walked back to Kame Games "Draco, I've been wondering, how come you can take on a human form? Is that normal for monsters or something?"

the aspiring knight blinked then slowly answered his travelling companion's questions "Well, it's not necessarily a common occurrence, but when monsters physically enter the human world, they are most often required to use a sealing spell in order to mask our nonhuman identities. As a result, we can only use our true forms in the case of an emergency. Exceptions do exist though..." he explained quietly, trying not to attract attention from the few pedestrians in the area, while clutching his pendant. Lizzie nodded quietly and they continued on their way back to Kame Games

Draco spoke with Lizzie that night when they finally got home "Lady Liz, once again, I humbly apologize for my failure to get you home. I will help you return to your family, and protect you at all costs. I swear this to you, and as such I wish to give you this." He handed her a Duel Monsters card, and when she flipped it over, it was none other than Gagagigo himself "This is my personal contract card, and as long as you own that particular card, I shall always be there for you, should you wish it."

Lizzie let out a soft gasp. She heard about contract cards from Draco on the way to the Ether Gate, and from what she had heard, it's a very serious act of trust among Duel Monster spirits to give their personal card to a human, for doing so is something akin to an oath that utterly binds the monster and human, on both contract recipients' terms of mind you. She looked at the card, then back to Draco "Are you sure you wish to go through with this? I'll do it, but in return, you must speak to me like good friends normally do, is that fair?" Draco smiled and nodded, his face looking like a child's on Christmas Morning "Aye, friends by oath and bond it is… Lizzie"

The card began to glow with light, and a wisp of life energy from Draco entered the card, binding part of his soul to the card "It is done. Draco E. Timaeus, at your service, my friend and liege!" he did small bow then said "It's getting late, we'd best get some sleep. It's going to be quite the day tomorrow, I wager!" Lizzie agreed, then with a "good night" , she went to sleep in one of Kame Games' spare rooms, as they had nowhere else to stay, and some time that day, Solomon had offered them a place to stay and a part-time job at the shop for the time being.

As Lizzie got into bed, she reviewed everything that happened recently, from the boy in the warehouse, to meeting Yugi and his friends and finally to the spirit contract she made with Draco. ' _I have friends, again. But… for how long this time?_ ' eventually she shrugged off that disturbing afterthought, then drifted off to sleep.

When Draco was sure she was fast asleep, he turned to where Solomon was standing by the door into the shop itself "You'll keep our secret as promised, then?" he asked seriously. Grandpa Muto laughed good-naturedly "Of course I shall, and as promised, I'll train your girlfriend how to become a professional duelist. And remember that she won't get special treatment" Draco visibly blushed upon hearing Grandpa Muto calling Lizzie his 'girlfriend' "Can it, it's not like that at all! He denied, then silently cursing at himself, having once again bungled part of his personal code of conduct; treat the elderly with due respect. Grandpa Muto chuckled, then left Draco to rest for the night. As he got into his bed, he tried thinking about the events of the day

The next couple weeks went by, and despite her near-unpredictable personality, Lizzie made fast friends with Yugi's group, particularly Téa, who often told her about the rest of the group, like how Yugi beat the world champion, Seto Kaiba, and Lizzie was thrilled when she was told Yugi's Grandpa was once an archeologist, and voiced her own wish to become one too, like her parents and her uncle Innes.

That day, a small, but popular annual Duel Monsters tournament was being held, with 23,000 yen, which if Lizzie's studies on currency exchange rates were correct, was equal to roughly 205 dollars, and a set of rare cards, many of which were categories of monster never heard of before until today, as the possible prizes for the top four duelists. Draco, viewing this as an excellent opportunity to test himself and Lizzie, decided to enter them into the tournament, much to Lizzie's excitement. The tournament took place tomorrow at 4:00 pm, which gave the two aspiring duelists plenty of time to practice and get to Kaibaland on time for the tournament, which was apparently known as the Chance Cup.

* * *

When they arrived the next day, they checked in with the receptionist and headed to the area where the eight competitors would gather and the matchups would commence.

The other noteworthy contestants were a young man with red-brown hair named Penn Wolfgang, who traveled all the way from Europe to test his dueling and culinary skills and a high school student named Katsumi Inoue, who had a pretty good tournament record in the past. The first round had gone by quickly with the before mentioned duelists making it to the semifinals, with Draco dueling Wolfgang, and Lizzie dueling Inoue.

"And now we shall commence the start of the semifinals! Starting off will be two duelists from overseas, first is a fine duelist straight from Germany, its Penn Wolfgang!" the crowd cheered as the red haired man entered the dueling field on the red platform "and on the other end of the field is a newcomer to the dueling career, introducing Draco Errant!" a smaller part of the crowd cheered for the newcomer, including Yugi and the others, who had come to watch them in their first tournament. As the platforms raised up, Draco called over to his opponent "Come, let us share an honorable duel together, good sir!" Wolfgang smiled heartily and responded equally so "Agreed, let's make this a duel to remember!".

When the field was finally set, the two men shuffled their decks then shouted in unison "Duel!" and the game was on. "I'll start first" Draco stated and drew his initial hand. the cards he drew were Blade Knight, Dragon Treasure, Pitch-Dark Dragon, Twin Twisters and . then there was the card he drew for starting first a warrior monster called Shine Knight. after thinking his options over, he made his move "I'll place a monster facedown, and set two other facedown cards. Your move" Wolfgang smiled then drew his card "I'll start by summoning Skull Red Bird in Attack Mode!" a bird with red plumage and golden yellow knives as wing feathers appeared on the dueling field and let out a battle screech (Level 4, Atk/Def:1550/1200) followed by Wolfgang declaring an attack on Draco's facedown monster.

Draco's monster was revealed to be Shine Knight after all (Level 3, Atk/Def: 400/1900). It's radiant armor blocked the attack as it struck back with its sword, reducing the unfortunate chef's Life Points to 1650. Penn sighed, then wordlessly placed two facedown cards and ended his turn.

Draco drew a card and smiled lightly and stated his move "First, I'll summon Robot Buster Destruction Sword in Attack Mode!" a six-legged dragon like monster with fur and feathered wings appeared on the field, carrying a sword of energy in its mouth (Level 4, Attack/1600, Def/1200.) "Robot Buster, Attack Wolfgang's Skull Red Bird!" the Dragon sped over to the red feathered bird and slashed three times at it, destroying it ad reducing Wolfgang's Life Points to 1600.

Up in the stands, while the others were cheering for Draco, Lizzie was lost in thought, fascinated by the dueling potential that she and the aspiring knight had shown during their first tournament, and was pretty amazed. In her last duel, Lizzie had made the duel do a total 180 degree turn, disrupting her opponents strategy by forcing the Giant Germs he kept returning to his deck, then field to repeat damage, into a state of vulnerability by using a combination of Block Attack, Lion Alligator and Spawn Alligator to bring her foe's Life Points to 0 just when everyone thought she would lose _'Maybe Grandpa Muto and Draco are onto something with this Heart of the Cards business. Believe in your deck, and you can achieve pretty much anything...'_ she thought with a smirk thinking about the story about Yugi beating Kaiba in a duel, despite Yugi being faced with three Blue Eyes White Dragons at once, then joined in on cheering with her newfound friends.

Draco was glad that Yugi and the others were here to support him and Lizzie, who also was rooting for him for this duel, and seemed to be enjoying this tournament quite a bit. she just seemed so different, so... alive when Duel Monsters was involved, quite different from how she seemed so depressed when she woke up in his tent in the Mythic Realms. _'Maybe this dimensional incident is for the best, she looks happier than she ever did before all... this...?'_ he paused as those last few words sank in. Before all this? But they had never met before now, so how could he- a sudden surge of memories raced through Draco's mind until they focused on one of his childhood memories

 _-It was some eight years ago, after his parents and older siblings died, leaving him and his kid brother Caleb orphaned at an early age. They wandered across the continent, barely scavenging what they needed to survive. It was one day that he encountered *that* man, the man who saved him and little Caleb and taught him what he needed to protect his brother. The man had dirty blonde hair and ice blue eyes and a diagonal scar across his left eye. He wore medieval soldier's armor, twin swords hanging from his belt. the man said something to the two children and offered Draco his hand, and he eventually accepted it-_

Draco smiled widely, he had never regretted the decision he made back then, and never will. He briefly wondered why that memory came to mind, but dismissed the thought for the time being, and resumed the duel "That ends my turn, it's your move, Wolfgang." Wolfgang nodded and drew his next card and began his turn " I summon the Bistro Butcher in attack mode!" a goblin like chef monster appeared on the field, it's right hand replaced with a metal hook, while it wielded a large butcher knife in its left hand (Level 4, Atk/Def:1800/1000) "I attack your Robot Buster Destruction Sword with Bistro Butcher!" the goblin cut the dragon down to size, despite its best effort to fight back, on the sidelines, Lizzie felt bad for the monster. Draco's Life Points dropped to 1800 before Penn continued speaking "Of course, due to his effect, Bistro Butcher serves you two cards to make up for the Life Points used for ingredients. And with that I end my turn."

Draco drew two more cards; Dark Blade and Spikeshield with Chain before drawing Field Commander Rahz and beginning his turn in earnest "I will summon Dark Blade in attack mode and attack your Bistro Butcher, destroying them both!" a warrior clad in pitch black armor with twin swords materialized onto the field and struck out at the Bistro Butcher (Level 4, Atk/Def:1800/1500), but Wolfgang abruptly activated one of his facedowns "I play my Sword of Deep-Seated, increasing my Butcher's attack by 500 points. Better luck next time!" the swordsman was destroyed by the goblin's new weapon, and Draco's Life Points decreased to 1300, causing Draco to draw two more cards, Wall of Disruption and Buster Blader! If he could just survive one more turn... "I end my turn with a facedown."

Wolfgang drew another card "I set one monster face down, and place a facedown card. then I attack your Shine Knight with my Bistro Butcher!" the goblin chef commenced his attack, but it was quickly averted when Draco played his trap "I activate Spikeshield with Chain, increasing Shine Knight's attack by 500, then adding it's new attack to its defense when attacked" the trap left Wolfgang with 1100 Life Points. the chef ended his turn, and Draco started his next one

"I now summon one of my best monsters, Buster Blader, to attack your Butcher!" a swordsman in purple-hued armor draws his sword (Level 7, Atk/Def: 2600/2300) and defeats the Bistro Butcher, reducing Wolfgang's Life Points to 800 and Draco ends his turn. Wolfgang draws his next card, but as it turns out Sword of Deep-Seated always returns to the top of the deck when destroyed, so he had to end his turn. Draco drew another card, set it facedown and destroyed Wolfgang's facedown Boar Soldier with Buster Blader, but much to his later embarrassment, he forgot to switch Shine Knight to attack mode for a finisher before ending his turn.

Penn drew his next card, then grinned "It's now time for the main course! I play the Hamburger Recipe ritual card, then send my Crab Turtle from my hand to the Graveyard to ritual summon Hungry Burger!" the monster that appeared was a giant burger with sharp , pointy teeth (Level 6, Atk/Def:2000/1850) "next, I add the special ingredient; Ritual Weapon, giving it a total of 3500 attack points, and attack your Buster Blader!" the evil-looking burger glowed in a pale blue light and attacked the Swordsman. However, Draco returned Penn's grin and performed his biggest chain so far "Not so fast, I activate my facedown; Wall of disruption to decrease your monster burger by 800 attack points" Hungry Burger's attack then went from 3500 to 2700 "next I play Twin Twisters, by discarding my Blade Knight, I can destroy your facedown and Ritual Weapon. And finally, I play the spell Karma of the Destruction Swordsman, removing two monsters of the same type from the game to increase Buster Blader's attack by 1000" the spirits of Dark Blade and Blade Knight channel their power to the swordsman before disappearing, then Buster Blader attacked Hungry Burger, leaving Draco the winner.

The crowd cheered over the rookie's triumph as the announcer shouted "Ladies and gentlemen, this was a splendid match, but it seems that the newcomer Draco Errant has emerged as the victor, and will be moving on to the finals. We will take a one hour break before the next match. Until then, folks!" before he returned to his friends, he walked over to his defeated opponent "Well played, Mr. Wolfgang, you put up a good fight, whether you know it or not. We should have a rematch some time" he offered the chef his hand, and Wolfgang shook his hand with respect "You dueled fantastically yourself, Draco sir. Perhaps you would like to bring some friends to my new restaurant after the Chance Cup is over. The first two helpings will be on the house, and the burgers are the customers' favorite!" Draco flashed a friendly grin "looking forward to it, good sir" Wolfgang gave Draco the directions to his restaurant then Draco turned and returned to where his friends were. Yugi and the others congratulated him then Draco spoke up "Oh guess what? We're getting free food after the tournament ends! Who wants Burgers?" he said the last three words very slowly. Yugi looked so happy, he might burst "Sounds good! Let's drop by once the tournament is over!" Lizzie raised her hand quickly "only if they have vegetarian burgers." Everyone stared at her "What? Eating meat makes me sick, so I'm a vegetarian." _'I'll have to remember that…'_ Draco noted in his mind as they went to the arcade to hang out before Lizzie's match.

* * *

 **There you have it, The first duel in the story. I made quite a few mistakes during the first draft of this chapter, including a pretty anticlimactic duel and many things still unexplained, so I changed the content a little, and added some more. Hopefully, this version will prove to be more satisfying. Until the next Duel!**


	3. Chapter 2 Rivals, First Encounter

**Here is another chapter for those still willing to give my first fanfiction a chance. this chapter revolves mostly around Lizzie and her duel with Katsumi Inoue, but some other surprises await too, and I don't just mean for this story's readers. Here's the Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs. I am only responsible for my OCs and custom arcs. It's time to duel!**

* * *

Chapter 2. Rivals, First Encounter.

* * *

Once everyone was ready, Yugi's friends, old and new returned to the dueling area. "Are you sure you'll be alright dueling Inoue? He's got a lot more experience than both of you, so you'll be at a disadvantage." Michael asked his two new rivals prior to the duel. Draco finished reviewing his tactics and chuckled deeply "Oh, there's no need to worry about me lad, it's her you should be worried about" he pointed his thumb towards Lizzie, who had forgotten to grab her entry ID the second time that day.

She shot him an annoyed glare "Hey, I can handle myself! Remember that sicko I beat in the last round? Who the heck uses a disease based deck anyway!?" Michael glanced towards her casually "apparently somebody who nearly beat you, and using mostly low level monsters, too" he said in a sickeningly sweet tone. Lizzie looked at the seemingly calm teen, insulted as planned "Really, Michael, you too? Never mind, it's my turn to duel anyway, later!".

She ran to the duel arena and got there just on time. Her opponent, Inoue had ear-length ginger hair, dark brown eyes and wore the Domino High School uniform, like Yugi often did. _'I hope this is fun as the last round. The suspense is killing me!'_ the reptile duelist imagined what kind of cards would be played this time, then she was snapped out of her daydream by the announcer "-and Liz, the novice reptile duelist!" her opponent stared at her and began mocking her "hey, lizard girl, are you going to duel me, or do you plan to just stand there and shed your skin?" she shut her eyes halfway, smiled and said "Why, duel of course. See, I already did the latter simply out of sheer terror." She said the last part in a sarcastic way that anyone would be insulted by "So let's get started!" by then, the two duelists had shuffled their decks, and were ready to rumble "Duel!" the two spoke in unison.

Lizzie was the first to draw "I'll go first!" she looked at the cards in her hand _'Ok, I drew Spawn Alligator, Lion Alligator, a spell_ _card_ _called attack pheromones, among other monsters. Now which one… I know!'_ she announced her first move "I'll start by placing a monster face down then end my turn." a card appeared on the field, then it was Inoue's turn "Draw!"

He looked at his hand, then grinned, I'll place two cards face down, then summon Wattaildragon, in attack mode!" a dragon with electric blue feathers, two birdlike legs, and a tail that was crackling with electricity appeared on the field, and let out an earsplitting cry (Attack/2500, Defense/1000.) "Now, Wattaildragon, attack her face down monster!" the dragon's body brimmed with electricity, then tackled Lizzie's monster. A turtle-like monster was revealed, then shattered upon impact. "You just activated my Reptilianne Gardna's special effect! When it gets sent to the graveyard, I can add another Reptilianne monster from my deck to my hand!" Lizzie searched her deck, then took a card from her deck, then shuffled it.

"It's my move!" She drew a card she smiled, then selected two cards "I'll play one monster face-down and place a face down. That's all for now." On the sidelines, Tristan voiced his current thoughts "uhhh, Yugi, please tell me Liz has a plan. Because things aren't looking too good for her right now." Yugi was watching the duel closely, and noted the face down card in the magic/trap zone "I'm honestly not sure. Lizzie is quite difficult to read, she could have a plan, but it's just as likely she has no idea what to do…" Michael rubbed his eyes, having just woke up from a nap while Yugi was talking "Let's just face it, she's a few magic cards short of a deck. In essence, she's crazy and in over her head." Téa wouldn't stand for what he said, and told him off "Don't talk like that! Even if it is true, we're all friends, and we will always support each other when we need it." She then shouted to Lizzie "Don't lose hope! You can do it, Lizzie! We're all rooting for you!"

Over in the arena, Lizzie heard that and smirked _'I hear you, Téa. And even if I lose…'_ "I'll give this duel my all! I end my turn, your move, Inoue." Her opponent shook his head as he drew a card "It's a bit late for that, lizard girl. I'll summon Battle Steer, in attack mode and have Wattaildragon attack your face down card" a Minotaur wielding a trident showed up on the field (Attack/1800, Defense/1300.) followed by Inoue's dragon attacking with another electric divebomb, but then Lizzie grinned "I activate the effect of my Gentlemander! When you declare an attack, I can special summon him from my hand, not to mention the only monster you can attack is him!" a pink bipedal salamander wearing odd-looking nobleman's clothes finds its way onto the field, then takes a defensive stance (Attack/1200, Defense/1000.).

Her opponent stared at the newly emerged monster, and busted up laughing, then said "I have a 2500 attack point dragon breathing down your neck, and you summon a newt?! Oh, this is priceless! Attack Her Gentlemander, my dragon!" the Wattaildragon flew down, and rammed the poor creature with a body covered in lightning, and the Gentlemander was sent to the graveyard. "Now, Battle Steer, skewer her face down card." The bull man charged the monster, only to damage its trident on another Reptilianne Gardna, causing its master to lose 200 life points. Outraged that he had been tricked so easily, Inoue played another face down card and ended his turn.

"It's my turn now!" She drew another card "it's time to end this! I summon Reptilianne Medusa in attack mode!" a hideous, snake monster appeared on the field, her portly face turning to the dragon on the opponent's side of the field. But it was then that Inoue played one of his face downs "I activate a trap card: Trap Hole! Sorry, but your Medusa is having the pits, heh...heh." The monster Lizzie had summoned fell to her demise, leaving Lizzie with nothing to defend with due to the face down card being of no use in this situation. "You were right, lizard girl. It *is* time to end this! Wattaildragon, attack her directly!" Lizzie peacefully shut her eyes and thought _'As I told myself before, at least I gave it all I had. It's just a shame…'_ then the attack hit her at full power, reducing her life points to zero _'…that it wasn't enough.'_ And she dropped to her knees, and blacked out as her cards were sent flying everywhere.

While leaning on the railing, Draco witnessed what happened with a mixture of shock and rage "Lizziiie!" then leapt onto the rail and kick started himself off of it towards the floor "Draco! What are you doing!? Are you mad?!" Michael yelled in panic, a rare occurrence for him, with everyone expecting Draco to get killed or at least badly injured from the fall. But neither happened, much to their surprise he made a perfect landing in a crouching position. Somebody near Tristan shouted "What kind of monster is he!?" and, not knowing how close to the truth the spectator was, Tristan looked about ready to explode, but before he could do so, Téa let out a short laugh "well you have to admit, it's pretty sweet of him to care for Lizzie *that* much!" Joey nodded, dumbfounded _'I wish I could do that! That was pretty cool, I guess.'_ He thought while the blue haired man dashed towards where his friend was, and checked to see if she was okay when his monster senses detected a wicked presence coming from nearby. After confirming that Lizzie would live, he searched the area for the source of the aura, but the source was already gone. Draco cursed then got to work on picking up his best friend's cards.

* * *

The medical staff came to pick up Lizzie, and the announcer declared that the tournament would be put on hold for today and tomorrow. Yugi and the others, sans Draco, who had vanished after the duel, discussed what had just transpired "Do any of you get a strange feeling about Draco?" Michael asked the other members of their group with a hint of suspicion. Joey spoke up first "Yeah, nobody could naturally pull something like that off…" he paused for a moment "It'd be pretty sweet if we could though!" he added as an afterthought. Michael had quickly grown impatient and was ready to snap. Fortunately, Yugi responded first "I think what Michael meant was that there's something we don't know about Draco that we may need to know. But while I agree with him, I just have this strong feeling we should trust him." Everyone but Michael agreed eventually, and the latter sighed angrily "Fine, you guys might trust him, but I don't. I'll find out what he's hiding and prove to you all that I'm right!" as he stormed off "Michael, wait-!" Téa started to chase after him, but Yugi stopped her and shook his head "It's alright, Téa. You know he has always had trouble trusting people, due to his current condition. He will learn to trust Draco like we do, and I'm sure Draco will open up to us someday, too." Téa looked like she was about to speak again, but said nothing and the two friends rejoined the others.

* * *

Elsewhere, a figure cloaked in a black aura cackled manically with a mysterious card in their hand and the picture shrouded by darkness " **Soon, soon the souls of the Ancient Keepers shall belong to** **US**!" then disappeared without a trace.

* * *

 **Another chapter is over, and a new threat prepares to show its face! Who is this mysterious enemy? Who or what are the Ancient Keepers? And what was the mystery card that the unknown person was carrying!? Keep reading to find out! To those of you who are still reading this, thank you! I love creating and sharing stories with others, and any positive input, constructive criticism or even a good wisecrack would be much appreciated. Until the next duel!**


	4. Chapter 3 Possessed Friends

**Here's another chapter! This chapter introduces somewhat darker elements into the story, often involving existing characters. it will also reveal some things about the OCs I've made. and now for the Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of it's spinoffs, only responsibility for my OCs and custom arcs, which is probably a good thing, because I am terrible with dialogue and area descriptions!**

 **It's time to duel!**

* * *

Chapter 3. Possessed Friends.

* * *

With the tournament on hold, and three of them absent, Yugi and his friends were naturally worried about Draco, and searched all the places Draco normally went to on his free time or simply wanted to be alone. When the search proved unsuccessful, they returned to Kame Games, hoping they would be able to find Draco there. Instead, they found the basement that was his and Lizzie's rooms vacant, with most of his belongings gone. Téa searched by the bookcase for hints to Draco's whereabouts, while Tristan and Joey rummaged through whatever was left of his belongings.

Yugi found a note pinned to the wall behind a Duel Monsters poster of Draco's favorite monster, Marauding Captain, above Draco's half of the bunk bed Yugi's two most recent friends used. He quietly read it to himself ' _Yugi, if you are reading this, then I have already left. Please believe what I have written, for something has happened that requires each of us to work out please follow these directions.'_ As he was reading the note, Joey wound up next to Yugi in his search for clues," hey Yugi, what're ya doing over there?" Yugi, turned his face towards his friend, and said "Well, I might have found a clue to where Draco ran off to, but I all I found after 'please follow these directions' was a coded message. Please give me time to figure it out." The message was quite difficult too. While he was trying to figure out the puzzle most likely made by Draco himself, the Millennium Puzzle started glowing...

* * *

Sitting by a pond surrounded by trees in the local park, Michael was brooding over what to do next. Truthfully, he wanted to trust Draco, he really did. But something in his past that he just couldn't remember prevented him from doing so.

'Why can't I remember? Whatever it was, it was immensely important, but whenever I try to remember, I keep drawing up blanks. Why!?' He yelled as he punched a nearby tree in frustration, breaking skin and scaring off a flock of birds nearby. **_'My, my, you're certainly in a foul mood!_ '** Michael looked around him, but found no one nearby "Who's there? Show yourself!" he heard somebody chuckling darkly, seemingly from out of nowhere _**'Whatever do you mean? I'm right here, as I always have been…'**_ his head started to ache, and he looked down at the bracelets he wore. _'For some reason, I've never been able to take these off for as long as I can remember. But now, it's almost like they're alive, messing with me'_ he shivered at this thought and tried to forget he thought it, but then his head throbbed painfully, and the voice returned again **_'Very perceptive, boy. You have learned quite a bit about our shackles, but you've barely scratched the truth's surface!'_**

Michael felt a chill in the air and looked at his reflection in the pond. His own reflection looked normal, but what was behind him was another matter. Behind him, four small holes in reality opened up and the sound of metal clinking against metal came from behind him. _**'None of them understand you, or your hidden suffering, but I do…'**_ by now the pain in his head had become so intense that he could barely move his hands to clutch his head in agony "Go away…" he moaned, the metallic sounds quickly growing louder and closer "Leave me alone!" he screamed, then the voice continued speaking, ignoring his pleas **_'Come, let us share our pain with this wretched world…'_** in an instant pitch black chains shot out of the miniature wormholes and seemed to fuse with Michael's body **_'…TOGETHER!'_** The voice finished. Unable to take anymore, Michael howled in torment as the darkness overtook him…

Elsewhere, about a half hour later in an unidentified location, Draco was facing off against a veiled duelist with a black aura engulfing him. "Dragonic Knight, destroy his Crab Turtle and end this!" the armored dragon struck down the enemy monster, and reduced the veiled duelist's life points to zero. As this happened, the dark aura surrounding the duelist left the man, and took on the appearance of a distorted face with sickly yellow eyes without pupils or whites, then dissipated. After putting away his deck he walked over to the defeated duelist, talking to himself "Blasted Shadow Games, I'm surprised this world even survived the last time they were prevalent. Now, let's see who you really….." he suddenly drew himself back in confusion "It can't be! How is this even possible!?" _'I need more answers, or I'm afraid none of the victims will ever wake up.._.' he thought to himself and walked away, unaware of the presence of someone following him.

When Yugi was done deciphering the message, he got up from the bend he was sitting on, seeming different from before. He looked taller, more mature and spoke with a deeper, more serious tone of voice "Joey, follow me, I'm sure I know where to look!" the blonde haired teen nodded "Right behind ya." then quietly left with Yugi. Upstairs, the phone rang, and Yugi's Grandpa answered the phone. Shortly he exclaimed something inaudible, then rushed downstairs as quickly as his aged body could take him "I have terrible news, kids! Lizzie has gone missing!" Tristan and Téa both did a 180 degree turn. Tristan looked like he was having trouble trying to speak at the moment, and then Téa looked around the room "Wait, where did Yugi and Joey go? They were here a moment ago. Have you seen them? She asked Grandpa Muto and her friend. Grandpa Muto informed the two of them about Yugi leaving the house with Joey, and suggested that Téa continued searching the shop for clues about their missing friends.

A while later, Yugi and Joey reached a manor house that looked like it had seen better days "You sure Drac's in there? This place looks like it got hit by a hurricane." Joey observed the first room as the team of two walked inside. The foyer was covered in cobwebs, and the furniture was all but gone but a bookcase rested by the right end of the room "I'm positive. Part of the message referred to this address, and the rest was about some kind of explanation as to why he left." Joey was quite curious about this, so he asked "And? What did it say? You can tell me!" Yugi looked like he was going to tell him, but thunder crashed, and the sky outside turned utterly dark "What the heck!? This wasn't on the weather report! What's going on?" Yugi's face looked around and answered in a grave tone "I don't know, but I'm certain this is no mundane occurrence. And I get the feeling we're about to find out why." Yugi walked over to the bookshelf, and after a bit of searching pulled out a book, revealing a set of stairs "Nice one Yugi. Hooray for cliché hidden entrances!" Joey said enthusiastically, though truthfully, he was quite creeped out about this current situation. The two went down a massive hallway that eventually ended in two large doors on each side of a much larger one, which the two discovered was locked from two places "we'll have to split up for the time being. Meet me back here when you're done on your end." Yugi said to Joey, going through the door on the left, while the latter went through the one on the right.

When Yugi walked through into the room, he noticed that despite the rest of the building's inadequate condition, this room was in relatively good condition. Shortly after entering, the door behind Yugi shut and locked, trapping him inside. Yugi continued walking until he reached the center of the room. _'This room looks familiar… Wait! This is the Kaibaland Dueling arena from the Chance Cup!_ ' True to Yugi's suspicions, the room was an exact replica of Kaibaland's arena **"Welcome, Yugi Muto! We were expecting you…"** Yugi turned around and saw a black cloaked man standing there, his face masked by a hood "Who are you? Are you the one responsible for the evil aura emanating from this place!?" Yugi demanded, and the man grinned maliciously from beneath the hood **"that we are, and if you wish to save these fools"** he lifted up three cards and to Yugi's dismay, on the pictures were of Penn Wolfgang, Katsumi Inoue and Lizzie, all frozen in positions of terror **"then you will have to duel us for their souls!"** Yugi was naturally outraged by this situation "You have yourself a duel! And when I beat you, you will release their souls immediately!" the mystery man chuckled darkly **"That's *if* you win, for to reach me, you'll have to duel… her first!"** he pointed to the dueling field, and what Yugi saw caused him to . There, on the opposite end of the duel field was none other than Lizzie Calhoun, her soul absent, her eyes blank and lifeless "You monster! How dare you do this to her!" but the mystery man vanished into thin air **"beat her, then we'll duel. But if you lose to either of us, then *you* will join her!"** Yugi, having no other options, stepped onto the blue platform and shuffled his deck "It's time to duel!"

'Lizzie' went first "I… draw…" she gazed blankly at her starting hand then took her turn "Summon… Monster, Terrene Toothed… Tsuchinoko…attack mode" a pudgy, spiked snake monster showed up on the field and hissed dangerously (Attack/1600, Defense/500.) "Play… face down… end turn…" _'I'll save you, Lizzie, just hang on!_ ' "My move!" he drew his hand. In it were Catapult Turtle, Celtic Guardian, Curse of Dragon, Polymerization and two pieces of Exodia 'If I can get the right leg, left arm and head, I can win for sure. But what will happen to Lizzie if I do?' then he started his turn in earnest "I summon Curse of Dragon, in attack mode!" a flying golden yellow dragon without legs, and horns and spikes on varied parts of its head and body respectively appeared on the field (Attack/2000, Defense/1500.). Just then, Lizzie apathetically raised her hand, and her face down revealed itself "activate trap… Ceasefire… take 500 damage…" a contract showed up on the field and started writing itself, while Yugi lost 500 life points "Curse of Dragon, attack her Tsuchinoko!" the dragon breathed dark flames at the opposing monster, and the snake disintegrated as Lizzie's life points were reduced to 1600. "I end my turn." Liz drew a card "summon monster… play… two face downs." An alligator with an orange mane of hair around its neck appeared, then two face down cards appeared, and she ended her turn (Attack/1900, Defense/200.). "It's my turn, now." He drew a trap card 'this will definitely be useful' "I play one card face down, then summon Catapult Turtle in defense mode!" a turtle monster bearing a launching platform appeared on the field and withdrew most of its body into its shell (Attack/1000, Defense/2000.), unfortunately it wouldn't be there for long because Lizzie had other plans "Activate trap… Trap Hole… destroyed…" a pit materialized beneath Catapult Turtle, and it was gone "My turn isn't over, Curse of Dragon, attack Lion Alligator!" the dragon attacked and destroyed the reptile monster, and Lizzie's life points dropped to 1500 "It's your move."

Upon Yugi's turn ending, Lizzie started to draw a card, then something happened. She grinned, but not in the way she used to during their short time together as friends, it looked like she was entirely different person. Then she started laughing, and when she stopped, she spoke with a distorted voice and a black aura enveloping her, a sadistic look in her eyes " **At last, I am free from my prison card! And with this lowly human's body, I, the great Ananta, shall feast on the noble soul within your Puzzle and exact my revenge on this world**!" the entity possessing Lizzie's body drew a card, then let out a feral grin " **First, I shall play a magic card: Graceful Charity, to draw three cards from my deck** " it said as it drew three cards " **and discard two cards from my hand** " it sent two monsters to the graveyard " **Finally, I shall summon Gentlemander in attack mode!** " the suit wearing salamander appeared on the field, brandishing his parasol _'something isn't right, Gentlemander is weaker than Curse of Dragon, so what is Ananta planning?'_

The spirit inhabiting Lizzie's body laughed maniacally " **It's time! I shall now reveal my true form, at last! I remove Gentlemander and the four monsters in my graveyard from play, in order to summon myself: Evil Dragon Ananta, in attack mode! Your time in this world is coming to an end, as I feed on the life force of my five monsters!** " Lizzie's arm raised a card into the air, and Gentlemander and her defeated monsters' spiritual energies were siphoned into the card, then Ananta appeared on the field. It was a serpent with seven heads, with a large golden horn on the main head, and a face-like band connecting it's necks to the rest of its body (Attack/?, Defense/?.) " **And due to my effect, I gain 600 attack and defense points for every soul assimilated (Attack/3000, Defense/3000.), then by ending my turn, I shall destroy your face down card!** " the Evil Dragon said in unison with Lizzie's body, and Yugi's trap card, Mirror Force, was destroyed by a blast of energy from Ananta's horn.

"My move!" Yugi drew a card _'This won't be able to defeat errr, it's dragon, but it should hold that monster off for now...'_ "I summon Gaia, the Fierce Knight defense mode, and end my turn" a knight with a lance and horse appeared to defend Yugi (Attack/2300, Defense/2100. Ananta took its turn, drew a card "I summon Lion Alligator in defense mode, then play Secret of the bandit on myself, I will attack your knight" Ananta lunged and pierced Gaia with its fangs, then due to Lion Alligator, Yugi took the difference as damage, leaving him with 700 life points, **"oh, and by the way, did I mention that Secret of the Bandit sends a random card from your hand to the graveyard whenever the selected monster deals damage?"** Ananta's body struck one of Yugi's cards, destroying Right Arm of the Forbidden One ' _No! Without that piece, the other parts of Exodia aren't usable! But why didn't Ananta attack Curse of Dragon? If it did, I would have lost for sure!'_ as if knowing what he was thinking, Ananta laughed and answered what Yugi was wondering **"I'd wager one of my heads you're troubled by my decision, I could have ended this by now. But why should I finish things quickly, when it's so much more fun to watch my prey drown in hopelessness? Human souls are much more satisfying when they are filled with despair."** Yugi finally understood the way his enemy worked _'its toying with me. It wants to prolong the duel to prove me helpless, but that might be just what I need to win! Here goes'_ "My move." He drew a magic card, and thanked Draco for lending it to him "I'll play a magic card, Pot of Greed, with it I can draw two more cards" Yugi did just that, then continued his turn "next, I use Swords of Revealing Light, preventing you from attacking for three turns! And since the card goes to the graveyard before its own effect resolves, your special effect can't touch it!" three swords of energy created an impenetrable barrier surrounding Ananta's monsters. Ananta growled then began taunting its foe " **delaying the inevitable are we? Suit yourself. It will make wiping you out all the sweeter**." The Evil Dragon's tongue flicked from its dominant head, then it took its own turn **"I'll set a monster face down, then end my turn in order to destroy your Curse of Dragon"** blackened energy shot from Ananta's horn, wiping Yugi's monster from the field. Yugi tried to remember anything he knew about this card _'It gains 600 attack and defense for each reptile removed from play summoning it, and it destroys a card at the end of each turn. Wait, that's it!"_ Yugi started laughing, much to Ananta's annoyance, then spoke confidently "Ananta, I have finally found your weakness!" Ananta hissed, insulted " **Fool, I *have* no weaknesses, or maybe you have finally gone mad from terror!** " Yugi smirked "we'll see about that. I'll draw one card, then end my turn!" the snake dragon showed a brief flash of surprise, then started its turn as if nothing had happened " **I have nothing I wish to play, I end my turn** " as soon as it uttered those words, its horned glowed with eldritch energy and disintegrated Ananta's Lion Alligator " **What is the meaning of this!? I didn't choose to destroy a card! What did you DO!?** " it demanded, completely vexed. Yugi started laughing again "I thought as much. It's not so much that you 'choose to' destroy a card so much as you *have to* do so, and since I have no cards on my playing field, you can only destroy your own cards. I would have thought you would know your own effect's drawbacks, Ananta! It's my turn!" he drew a card, then played a combination "I'll summon Kuriboh, in defense mode!" a dark brown puffball with stubby arms and legs appeared on the field and made a cute noise in response to its summoning (Attack/300, Defense/200.). Ananta looked at Yugi like he grew an extra eye and sprouted fur **"Is this your idea of a joke? If so I am not amused in the slightest."** Yugi frowned and adamantly stated "this is no joke, and now I'll prove it to you by playing Multiply, causing one Kuriboh to become many, filling the field with clones!" the Kuriboh first split into two, then four, then eventually countless copies of itself, all with the same attack and defense as the first " **You're only slowing down your demise! I'll place one card face down and end my turn to destroy as many Kuriboh as I can!** " In the end, Ananta was only able to destroy one fifth of the swarm of fur balls, but by now, the Swords of Revealing Light had finally left the field and Ananta would be able to attack next turn _'Alright, this is it. I must believe in myself and in the Heart of the Cards!'_ he saw a image of his friends, old and new, then drew a card "My move! And I'll play a magic card, Detonate! By tributing my Kuriboh, I can destroy the cards on your field in one blast!" The Kuriboh clones drew close to Evil Dragon Ananta, and exploded with such force that all four of its cards were destroyed. "Now I summon the Dark Magician in attack mode! Attack Ananta directly with Dark Magic Attack!" Dark Magician materialized onto the field and attacked (Attack/2500, Defense/2100.). A moment before the attack was initiated Lizzie's body moved as if to activate a card, but abruptly halted, with Dark Magician's attack connecting, allowing Yugi to win the duel. Ananta's spirit burst from Lizzie's body, and was quickly sent screaming into its own empty soul prison card, leaving Lizzie's body to collapse again. After making sure she was stable, Yugi left the now unlocked room and prepared for the final showdown, but not before noting that the card she was going to play was Damage Diet 'She could have prolonged the duel by removing this from play, but stopped. Maybe Lizzie isn't quite as trapped as that figure thought she was!'.

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

At the same time that Yugi started his duel with Ananta, Joey was having different problems. For starters, upon walking through the door, Joey fell down and would have fallen into a pit of lava, had four black chains not seized his limbs and placed him on a small platform in a room with similar chains and he shouted "Ok, what the heck!? This is so realistic, it's creepy. What maniac gets the idea to put a furnace directly under a door, anyway!?" as he tested the chains attached to his wrists and ankles, he heard a familiar voice across the room from him "I believe that would be me, Joseph. It's funny, despite only being gone for a couple hours, it feels like it's been years since we last met…" Joey looked across the room and his eyes widened in recognition "No way, Mike is that you? Why are you doing this? I thought we were all friends!"

Michael Nidhoggr stood atop one of the other two platforms, four black chains embedded in his back, and a shroud of darkness emanating from his body "'Why am I doing this', you ask? Simple, none of you ever appreciated me. You were never really my friends were you!?" his voice rose with each moment, filled with feelings of rage and betrayal. "No, Mike it's nothing like that-"He started but Michael shouted "LIAR! Don't try to trick me, I can see right through your lies… now stop talking, and duel!" Joey, knowing that words alone wouldn't help Michael, took out his deck and said "Alright! If you're going to be like that, I'll have to beat you to your senses!" even he could tell something was terribly wrong with his friend, and he was going to find out what "DUEL!" two shouted, and miniature dueling interfaces emerged from the magma and Michael drew first

"I'll start by discarding Archfiend General from my hand to take Pandemonium from my deck. Then I'll play it, and summon Darkbishop Archfiend in defense mode and call it a turn!" a skeletal fiend monster wearing a cloak and holding a bone staff appeared and readied itself to defend (Attack/300, Defense/1400.), plus the field took on a more sinister appearance. Joey drew a card then looked at it 'that's strange, this card looks familiar. Maybe I'll try it out later' "I play a magic card, Dark Hole! Because of this card, your monster's toast!" Michael grinned wickedly "Don't get carried away, my Archfiend has an ability: if a card played by you is used on my archfiend, a roulette starts, if it lands on one, three or six, your card is negated and destroyed!" a wheel of numbers appeared in front of Darkbishop Archfiend and a flame rotated past the numbers "Stop!" Michael shouted, and the flame landed on a 1 "sorry, but it looks like your Dark Hole has been voided, get the pun, false friend?" the black hole collapsed in on itself, leaving Joey with one less card, and Joey was angered by that last comment

"Why you! How can you call us false friends!? me and the others took care of you when we found you without a clue about who you were but your name! We even tried to help you get your memories back, now you threaten me with a lava pit, and you call our friendship fake!? That's just not right at all! I'll summon Flame Swordsman in attack mode!" a man in blue and orange armor materializes onto the field wielding a burning sword (Attack/1800, Defense/1600.) "Attack his Archfiend! Let's knock some sense into him!" the Flame Swordsman charged at and sliced the daemon in two "I'll place a face down card and end my turn."

Michael added an Archfiend card from his deck due to Pandemonium's effect, then drew a card "Nice try, but not good enough. I'll summon Archfiend Emperor, the First Lord of Horror, and remove an Archfiend in my Graveyard from play to destroy your worthless Swordsman, then attack you directly!" the Lord of Horror was a huge, skeletal fiend with a matching massive sword, both easily dwarfing Flame Swordsman appeared and stabbed its sword into the ground creating a tremor (Attack/3000, Defense/2000). The force of the tremor destroyed Flame Swordsman, then the daemon lord lashed out his sword, creating a shockwave of dark energy. Joey didn't even flinch "I activate a trap, Waboku, now your Archfiend does no damage at all!" the attack proving fruitless, Michael grudgingly ends his turn "Your move, faker!"

Joey didn't say anything, he just stood there, his eyes hidden from view "What's wrong, did I strike a nerve? Well that's what you get for betraying me!" a flashback went through Joey's mind about an event that transpired between them about a year ago ' _Joey had been walking home from school that day, when he bumped into someone quite on accident. It was a teenage boy, about the same age as himself with brown hair, and grey eyes, wearing two strange black bracelets around his wrists and he looked like he had been having a rough day. Later Joey and the strange youth, apparently named Michael Nidhoggr had held a great conversation with each other. As it turned out, Michael had lost his memories recently, and all he knew about himself were his name and that he was a duelist. The conversation ended up being about Duel Monsters, and lasted for hours before they decide to go their separate ways, but not before Michael gave him some of his cards as a friendly gift, among them being two of Michael's favorites: Flame Swordsman and Dark Flare Knight, but the strongest one out of all of them was…'_

Joey finally came back to his senses, and noticed one of the cards Michael himself gave him on his birthday later after they became close friends, he then drew a card and played them together "I'll summon a blast from your past, Mike! Say hello to your old friend. Come on out, Red-Eyes Black  
Flare Dragon!" a dragon emerged from the lava beneath them, its name fit it well, with blackened scales, red eyes and wings partially wreathed in flames (Attack/2400, Defense/2000) "Next I equip it with Malevolent Nuzzler, bringing its attack to 3100!, Black Flare, attack his emperor with Infernal Flare!" Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon exhaled a stream of shadowy flames, burning Archfiend emperor to a crisp, and bringing Michael to 1900 life points "Nice move faker, but I will-" Joey abruptly interrupted in a harsh tone "Drop the act! Even I can tell you're *not* the Michael that any of us know, he would never call the Flame Swordsman worthless, it was one of his favorite cards! So who are you really!?"

there was silence, then cruel laughter coming from Michael. When he looked back up at Joey, an ancient eye glyph appeared on his forehead, radiating an unnatural black light "You are right for once, Wheeler, I am not the Michael you all came to care about, I am a spirit released by the darkness within him. He was weak, unable to contain the power of my Tartarus Shackles that he has worn since before his memories vanished. He has kept me chained up in his spirit chambers, but now I am in control! I won't go back, you will lose and you will be flung into darkness by my shadow game, for whoever loses here has their soul sent to Tartarus! Then I will be free to get my revenge on this cruel, heartless world!"

Joey stared at the 'newly dubbed by Joey' Yami Michael for a moment, and said "Dude, you have some very serious issues. Ever try going to therapy before?" Yami Michael shot a death glare at Joey "I have been trapped in a pair of cursed shackles for centuries, there aren't any therapists to talk to in there, imbecile!" he growled before taking his turn "I'll set a monster face down and one face down card, then I play a magic card, Pot of Greed to draw two more cards" he took another two cards from his deck, then grinned wickedly, which seriously worried Joey " I shall end this, by playing Final Ritual of the Ancients! By sacrificing monsters from my hand, I can summon my ultimate monster! To me, Reshef the Dark Being, let us destroy this fool together old friend!" a monster that resembled a massive automaton with three spheres of energy visibly a part of its body emerged from a stone tablet (Attack/2500, Defense/1500.) "And now, I shall activate Reshef's ability: by discarding a spell card from my hand, I can take control of your Red-Eyes for this turn! Your time is up!" as the Black Flare Dragon moved to Yami Michael's side of the field, the last thing he suspected was for Joey to smile "You want him? Take him, he was yours to begin with. Isn't that right Mike?"

Yami Michael prepared to finish off Joey's life points, until his head began to hurt like it had been hit by a bus. He clutched his head, and seemed to be struggling with something, then finally he screamed, and the eldritch eye on his forehead faded. Michael was back, for now. "Joey, please forgive me, for I have done you all wrong. I'll end my turn immediately, returning Red Eyes Black Flare Dragon to your side. You know what to do now, right my friend?" Joey looked into his friend's eyes and found that they were the eyes of someone who had lost the will to go on, and a lone tear dropped down the blonde's cheek before he returned to normal "My move! I'll use Gemini summoning to turn Red-Eyes into an effect monster, then have it attack your Dark Being!" A burst of dark flames collided with the ancient being, then destroyed it "and due to Red-Eyes' special effect, you take damage equal to its original attack!" the dragon's wings radiated flames that reduced Michael's life points to zero, after he recovered from the blast, Michael smiled and spoke weakly "Thank you Joey, for everything. Draco is out back. Good luck… and tell everyone I'm sorry, especially Draco."

the chains connecting to Michael began pulling him into a dimensional void. Joey was unbound by the black chains and called out to Michael, and just before getting dragged to the underworld, Joey's friend grinned good-naturedly one more time before being returned to the spirit prison, and Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon's card turning blank and black. Joey was stricken with grief, but eventually promised himself to try to get his friend back. "But… how will I do that?" Outside the room, which had turned from hot and magma filled to blank and featureless, Draco had awakened from unconsciousness and attempted to comfort him "I'll help you save him, I promise. But first we have to deal with the source of this shadow domain to even leave. Follow me!"

In another room, two grey flames on an altar were snuffed out, and a young man engulfed by shadows cackled madly " **Finally, it's our turn to duel, and this time, none of them will escape**!" and awaited his prey.

* * *

 **And that concludes chapter 3! I'm planning on revising the previous chapters at a later time to give them better flavor.**

 **For anyone wondering what will happen to Michael will have to wait for quite awhile, because he isn't rejoining the group anytime soon! Thank you for reading!**

 **Until the next Duel!**


	5. Chapter 4 Envoys of Shadow

**Sorry for the delay, but I have had several setbacks while working on this chapter (Curse you, Starbound And DQ Builders!), but I have finally come up with some ideas for this story, including new archetypes! And now for the Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, or any of its spinoffs, just my OCs, this fanfiction, and its custom concepts/cards.**

 **It's Time to Duel!**

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

Téa, Tristan and Grandpa Muto had been searching Kame Games for almost an hour before they found the note left by Draco. Apparently Yugi had put it in his bedroom, tucked halfway beneath his pillow for the others to find, along with the translated code. "We need to go there *now*, Téa! Not only did they find Draco, but the three of them could be in trouble now!" Tristan complained, still irritated that Yugi and Joey didn't take him and Téa with them, and wanted to catch up to their friends as quickly as possible.

Téa looked up from the city map "Tristan, I want to help those three just as much as you do, trust me. but we have to find the address first. if we don't, we might not get there in time!" she stated firmly. She was also worried about Lizzie, who had been absent from her medical bed for the past half hour. They didn't find any leads in that search, however, and decided to find their other four friends first.

Grandpa Muto finally spoke up for the first time in twenty minutes "I think I found the address you're looking for." Téa and Tristan looked in Grandpa's direction immediately "it's near the Pier District, so it might take fifteen to twenty more minutes to walk there, but the mansion there was meant to be demolished years ago and replaced with an arcade... but there were various complications that prevented the place from being taken down. Also, please wear these on your way there" he handed them some raincoats, while they noticed that he was wearing one too "umm, Mr. Muto, is there a reason you have a raincoat on too?" Tristan asked in a somewhat apprehensive manner.

The elderly man had a determined look on his face "You don't expect me to simply wait here for you to get back, do you? I know my grandson will want all of our support, and I don't intend to stay here and worry myself sick about what's happening. I'll meet you two there as soon as possible." despite all attempts to have him stay put, Grandpa Muto adamantly went to the car and drove off, leaving Tristan and Téa to meet him at their destination. Worried, the two friends started on their way to the manor house on the map.

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

As Yugi was returning to the central doorway, he saw something in the corner of his eye and went to investigate quickly. It was a Duel Monsters card, but it was unlike any card he had ever seen. For starters, it was completely blank, with no picture or game statistics to tell him how it worked. The second part was just as puzzling, its color was different from the other cards, as it was mostly black, so Yugi couldn't really tell what kind of card it was. Getting the feeling it might be important, Yugi picked it up and raced back to the place he was to meet Joey.

At the central doorway, Joey was waiting with Draco for Yugi to arrive. They were both uneasy, certain that there was trouble on Yugi's end. Fortunately, they saw Yugi emerge from the other door unscathed and went to greet him "Yugi, you're back!" Joey greeted happily "did ya' find anything in there?" he asked curiously, wondering if Yugi went through something just as crazy as he did. He still felt bad about what happened to Michael, but he'd manage until he saved his friend.

Yugi looked past Joey, to where Draco was standing, and wondering how much to tell them. Eventually, he ended up giving a brief summary of the events that occurred in the other room, including the "Mysterious Man" and the duel with Ananta, Joey looked quite disturbed by this, while Draco was absolutely livid "dang it, this guy you met must be the one responsible for the trouble that's been happening today! When I get my hands on that creep-" the blonde haired teen didn't get to finish, because Draco had already had enough "You won't do anything to him... because I'm going to make him wish he was never born! nobody does this to my friends and gets away with it!" he started shouting midway through his rant, and once he calmed down, he apologized to his friends for shouting and the trio turned to the largest of the three doors "So, shall we end this nightmare?" Draco rhetorically asked "because I have a hunch that the one responsible is behind that door." the three looked at each other and nodded in agreement, and they went through the door.

The room inside was the weirdest out of all of the three they visited. This was probably due to the fact that the room had no set structural dimensions, as the floor twisted diagonally, vertically and even upside down as they walked, which disturbed everyone present. when they reached the end of the distorted area, they found a gloomy looking room filled with candles, and a shrine at the end where their final opponent awaited, his hooded figure looming menacingly in the shadowed illumination **"You have finally arrived, Yugi Moto. We were expecting you"** the figure stated, watching as Yugi stepped towards him

"We have had enough of your games. Give us back our friend Lizzie, as well as the others whose souls you stole!" Yugi demanded, clearly wanting to stop the man before he harmed anyone else. the stranger chuckled menacingly before responding **"Demands already? but the fun has only started..."** not liking what they heard, Joey and Draco moved closer to Yugi, but the cloaked man raised his hand in front of him, and a fiery barrier blocked them off from him and Yugi **"If you want your friends back, you must defeat us in a Duel first!"** a dueling field emerged between them from where the shrine was, and Yugi took his deck from his belt to set on the archaic dueling interface "Very well, then. and once I defeat you, you must hold to your word and release everyone you captured!"

the cloaked figure grinned from beneath his hood, and a dark aura visibly emanated from his body **"but that's *IF* you win, for you have never dueled someone like us!"** he placed his own deck and the Duel started "DUEL!" the two shouted and the Shadow Game started. the Dark Duelist started first **"We start by summoning Entropic Envoy Harquillen in attack mode!"**

the shadows coalesced into a monster none of them had seen before. It was made from a depressingly gray haze in the shape of a jester with abnormal features. It had no hands, instead having sickle-like appendages reminiscent to those of a praying mantis', its face featureless, sans a disturbing sharp-teethed grin and sickly yellow, slitted eyes without pupils or whites. It tumbled about in an unearthly manner as it moved, and it cast no shadow (Level 1 Dark Fiend, Atk/Def: 0/0) **"We set two facedown cards and end our turn..."** even Yugi was surprised at this action 'By summoning his monster in attack mode, he would lose the duel if he got attacked by one of my stronger monsters.' he thought as the enemy monster clambered about the field unsteadily then looked at the facedown cards ' Either the facedown cards are a trap, or the monster has a hidden effect. either way, its better to play it safe for now, so this should work'

he picked a card from his hand "I summon Mammoth Graveyard in attack mode!" a skeletal mammoth burst from the floor beneath them, and let out a hollow sound (Level 3 Earth, Dinosaur, Atk/Def: 1200/800) 'I have the Dark Magician ready to be used, but I should see what my foe has in store first' he thought then sent his monster to attack the hazy clown. But just as Yugi expected, the enemy had a trick up his sleeve **"We activate Harquillen's effect; Curse Scarring!"**

The Envoy strikes at the monster, but barely cuts it, and gets destroyed. Upon destruction, the Envoy bursts into a cloud of mist, which then seeps into Mammoth Graveyard's wound **"when our Envoy battles, we take no damage from that battle. And because you destroyed Harquillen, its Curse spreads to your monster, giving it one Entropy Counter"** the skeletal monster's attack and defense then dropped (900/500) **"now we activate its second effect; Des Cloning! when Entropic Envoy Harquillen is destroyed in battle, it is replaced by another Harquillen. By the way, we would suggest you keep an eye on your monsters' attack and defense points; you don't want to know what will happen when they both reach 0, hehehe..."** Shortly after its destruction, the monster reconstituted its body from the shadows around it, effectively reviving itself. Yugi began to understand why it had no attack points _'every time that monster is destroyed, it reduces the opposing monster's attack and defense and replaces itself with a new monster.'_ he placed a facedown, then ended his turn.

the Dark Duelist drew a card, then made his next move **"We play our facedown magic card: Allure of Darkness. by banishing a Dark monster from our hand, we can draw two more cards"** he removed a monster from the game and drew two cards **"next, we summon Entropic Gardna in defense mode and activate its effect, placing an Entropy counter on your Mammoth Graveyard and increasing its defense points by those lost by your monster"**

this card resembled a human with stag beetle shells fused to his arms and back, and was made from dull gray mist. His eyes glowed solely yellow, and his arm shells appeared to be bladed around the edges (Level 1 Dark, Fiend Atk/Def: 500/2250). its arm shells were then used to slash mammoth Graveyard again, reducing its points again (600/200), then increased its defense points by 300 (2550 Def) **"we place a facedown and end our turn."**

Joey watched as the duel progressed, and had begun cheering for Yugi "Go on Yugi, kick that punk into next week! I know you can do it!" Draco agreed with him, but his gaze seemed to be transfixed on the Dark Duelist _'My instincts as a Duel Spirit are screaming at me that something is very wrong here! that voice sounds familiar, too...'_

Yugi drew his next card 'I need to find a way to get past his Entropic Envoys, so I'll have to destroy what's left of his Harquillen monsters first' he thought, then made his move "I summon the Dark Magician in attack mode!" Yugi's signature monster appeared on the field, his gaze falling upon the two wicked monsters ahead of it with apparent disgust on his face, then with the determination to protect his duelist, he pointed his rod at their foes (Level 7 Dark Spellcaster. Attack/Defense: 2500/2100.) "First, Mammoth Graveyard will attack your Harquillen" the dark jester was speared with the mammoth's tusks, but not before it slashed the monster with its sickle arms and curse energy seeped into its wounds, then rebuilt itself (300/0) "Now, Dark Magician, it's your turn, Dark Magic Attack!" the mage blasted the monster with his magic, but still got struck by Harquillen's Curse (Current Attack/Defense: 1800/1400).

When the dust from the attack settled, the hood of the Dark Duelist was torn off by the force of the attack. Due to Yugi's earlier explanation, nobody could believe who it was that they saw...

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

It had taken them awhile, but Tristan and Téa finally reached the abandoned manor house, thus catching up with Grandpa Muto. Grandpa Muto was already inside the old building waiting for them "Impressive, you made it here earlier than I guessed!" he chuckled, then upon seeing them so worn out, he rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly "Sorry, kids. I was so focused on getting here that I forgot to offer you a ride..." Tristan, who had finally caught his breath, was the first to respond "Don't worry, we're fine, so we should probably start looking for Yugi and the others, right Téa?" Téa spoke back in reply, still tired but determined to support her friends "Yes, now did Yugi leave any clues to where he is?"

She looked around the room and Mr. Muto pointed to one of the far corners of the foyer after getting their attention. a hidden door behind a bookcase was left open by someone, leading somewhere below the building "That..." Téa started "Would be a good start." Tristan finished and climbed the stairs down the formerly hidden passageway, followed by Grandpa Muto and Téa.

Once they reached the bottom, they passed through a long hallway filled with broken portraits until they reached a set of three doors, with one at the center and two on opposite ends, which was when they to decide which way to go first, not wanting to separate and risk getting lost "I think we should go to the one in the left first. Call it a gut feeling, but I think we should go to that one first." Tristan said, while Grandpa Muto believed they should go through the middle door first, but Téa ended up agreeing with Tristan, and they went through the left door.

When they got there they found Lizzie collapsed on a red dueling platform "Lizzie!" Tristan and Téa shouted in unison as the rushed to their friend's aid "Come on, wake up, Liz! Please tell us what happened!" Tristan shook her lightly, and when he got no response, Grandpa Muto checked her pulse, it appeared to be perfectly fine "She looks like she got hurt quite a bit, but she'll live." he stated as Tristan lifted her onto his back to carry her with them "Okay, looks like nobody else is in here, so let's head back and search the middle door next, agreed?" Téa suggested, and the others confirmed this plan, then with Lizzie in tow they headed back the way they came.

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

When they came to this room to free three people's trapped souls, they weren't expecting one of said people being the one who pulled off this scheme. Yugi was especially shocked when he found that the culprit was none other than this young man **"** **hehehe, well we hope you're happy, you have finally unveiled us to the world for the first time in decades. You should be proud... if you manage to leave with your souls, that is... We activate our trap; Entropy Reborn, in order to revive our destroyed Harquillen!"** the monster returned to the field as Katsumi said these words with an ominous tone, causing chills to run down everyone's spine "What!? Inoue was the one who did this? but I thought he had his soul stolen by this guy... I mean, him, I mean- Argh, this is just so confusing, dang it!" Joey exclaimed, completely and utterly confused by this situation.

Yugi looked back towards his friend and explained his own theory "I suspect this might be something similar to what happened with Lizzie, he's being controlled by an outside force and his body is being used as a conduit for the real enemy. Who are you, are you working with Ananta?" a veil of shadows blanketed Katsumi's body as the Dark Entity answered his question **" You are very perceptive, Yugi Muto, we are indeed controlling this whelp's body, but you are wrong to believe we would stoop so low as to work as partners with that over-glorified snake. As for who we are, you will never know whether you win or lose... Now let us continue the duel, we are getting bored!"** Yugi returned his focus to the Shadow Duel "I'll end my turn. For now, it's your move"

the Dark Entity chuckled and said **"And the last move you'll ever see,** _**Shadow Draw!**_ **"** the being looked at its card and grinned evilly **"It is time! We summon Entropic Envoy Lesickre in attack mode"** the shadows converged to create a new monster. Lesickre looked like a five armed praying mantis demon made from a dull gray haze. It had sickly yellow compound eyes, and an ever-shifting shadow. Its fifth arm came from its upper back, between the wings, and looked disturbingly human compared to the other arms, which better resemble its insect-like form (Level 1 Dark, Fiend. Atk/Def: 450/400), but the Dark Entity wasn't done as the three friends were about to find out **"We overlay our Harquillen, our Entropic Gardna and our Lesickre in order to build the Overlay Network!"** a spiral-shaped portal appeared, and the monsters turned into three dark purple spheres of energy, then entered the gate of energy **"Hungering vassal to the Lord of Lost Will, we call upon your power to feed on the world of light! We Xyz Summon;** **Number -44: Ravenous Lord Shaol-Kilose, in attack mode!"** the entity was a massive bipedal jackal with armor that included eyes on its gauntlet's palms. Unlike the lesser Entropic Envoys, this monster had a physical form, but was still cloaked in the haze the other Envoys were made of. It had sickly yellow eyes without pupils or whites, four bat-like wings on its back and was armed with a giant two-bladed scythe as a weapon. it had a muddy brown -44 symbol on the right side of its neck. at the same time, the same symbol appeared on Katsumi's neck in the exact same spot (Rank 1 Dark, Fiend, Atk/Def: 2400/1950.). Yugi was lost for words, Xyz Summon? _'Could this be the kind of card that will be released to the public after the Chance Cup? do they all do this to people?'_ the thought as the duel progressed, when inwardly he could hear a barely audible _'No...'_ from within his troubled mind.

The Dark Entity continued its turn **"Shaol-Kilose's effect activates; for every counter on the field, it gains 100 attack points, that's a total of 400..."** the cursed haze seeped out of Yugi's monsters and was devoured by the Number, giving it even more power (Attack:2800) **"Number -44, destroy his Mammoth, and feed their souls to the shadows!"** the wicked monster twirled its twin-bladed scythe the flung it towards Mammoth Graveyard the blades on each end whipping up a gale that knocked back Joey and Draco "This is crazy! it's like the monsters in this duel are real! How is that even possible?!" the blonde shouted over the winds _'More than you know Joey, more than you know...'_ Draco thought when he heard his friend.

Yugi wasn't ready to give up, and played a trap "I activate Magical Hats, now I'll hide my Mammoth Graveyard beneath them and you must pick a hat to attack" the Dark Entity chose the leftmost hat, but found that it only hit the Multiply spell card, and begrudgingly ended its turn "Now that your turn has ended, my monster leaves its hiding place, free of Entropy Counters!" the skeletal mammoth emerged from the middlemost remaining hat and the turn was passed to Yugi.

Before Yugi started his turn, a wisp of energy entered his mind and he found himself in a chamber that resembled his room back at Kame Games, the only difference was the stranger sitting cross-legged on his carpet. they had no defining features, just a dark colored robe that obscured what was behind it. Yugi looked around, and then at the stranger, but before he could question the unknown figure, the latter spoke up first "You've finally arrived, now I can finally assume a form as well" the figure was surrounded in mystic energy, and when it disappeared, their new form was revealed.

The being resembled a cross between the purple robed and the black robed Dark Magician, but had the Eye of Wdjat on his forehead, and the Violet number 37 on his left hand. Yugi was surprised when the magician spoke, using the same voice he heard shortly after the Negative Number was summoned "I am Number P37; Mind Shadow Magician, a Parallel Number and your humble servant. Now I am sure that you have many questions, and I will gladly answer what I can, master." Yugi began to consider his options, not sure what to think of this new monster. on one hand, he could be working with the Dark Entity, but on the other hand, he might be able to answer the questions he needed to have answered. the black and violet robed mage waited patiently for Yugi, then his new master finally responded "Very well, my first question is this: what are you exactly? you are clearly a monster, but I have never heard of you."

Mind Shadow Magician stood up and answered his question "You are right that I am a monster, but that is quite obvious. As for what I am, I am known as an Xyz Monster, a card produced by a very special summoning method, not unlike Fusion Summoning" Yugi had never heard of this summon method before, but was willing to learn more about the monster that had some connection to his opponent's ace card " Can you tell me more about Xyz monsters and how they work? I need all the help I can get to defeat that Number card the Dark Entity summoned."

the newly formed spellcaster smiled " That's what I'm here for, Master Yugi, for Numbers and Negative Numbers can only be destroyed by another Number card, unlike us Parallel Numbers who can be defeated by non-Numbers. now, hold still, and I shall grant you the knowledge you need to call upon my aid and the knowledge to use and combat Xyz and Synchro Monsters..." the Parallel Number placed his left hand upon Yugi's forehead, and suddenly massive streams of information compacted into his memories, granting access to concepts of Duel Monsters that Yugi had never even known about...

By the time that Yugi came to, Téa Tristan and Grandpa Muto had arrived, with Lizzie's unconscious form being carried by Tristan "Yugi, you're okay!" Tristan exclaimed from next to Joey "What happened buddy? you've just been staring off into space for the past few minutes, is something wrong?" Yugi looked back at his friends and said "Now that everyone's here, no. so I'm guessing you got my message?" Téa nodded then encouraged her friend "Joey and Draco explained everything to us, just keep dueling! We know you can beat this guy!" Yugi smiled and looked in his deck box noting that the blank card he picked up had become Number P37; Mind Shadow Magician "Alright, It's my move, I draw!"

Yugi started his move "I play a Spell Card, Swords of Revealing Light! Now you cannot attack for three turns." three swords of energy blocked off all attack opportunities for the Dark Entity "Next I summon Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1 in defense mode, then end my turn." a blue scaled dragon appeared from its card and entered a defensive stance with its wings as Yugi's turn ended (Level 4, Wind Dragon. Atk/Def: 1400/1200.)

the Dark Entity chuckled **_"And here we thought you would play a game changer, but after all that sappy friendship crud, all you have managed was to stall for time, we draw!"_** it looked at the card it drew, and let out a feral grin _**"we summon Entropic Gardna in defense mode and equip it with Spirit Eater's Aura!"**_ this card resembled a human with stag beetle shells fused to his arms and back, and is made from dull gray mist. His eyes glow solely yellow, and his arm shells appear to be bladed around the edges, and when the Spell Card was equipped to him, the gray haze surrounding the Entropic Envoy turned blood-red, and the monster grew in mass slightly. _**"**_ ** _Next we activate Entropic Gardna's effect: once per turn, we can place an Entropy Counter on one of your monsters to give half the defense lost to our Gardna until the our next Standby Phase, and we choose your dragon!_ _Dar_ _k_ _Aegis Barricade D!"_** the Envoy placed his arm-shells together and a fragment of the monster' shot into Winged Dragon, afflicting it with the Curse of Entropy (Atk/Def: 1000/800.)

The Dark Entity's life points increased by 400 (2400) as it explained _**"Spirit Eater's Aura gives us life points equal to the amount of attack or defense taken from a monster by the equipped monster.**_ _ **Now we have more life points than you and will only gain more as this duel progresses, and now we end our turn, that gives you two more chances to stop our Negative Number before your soul is lost to the shadows!"**_

One of the swords disappeared as Yugi drew his next card "anyone notice that neither duelist has lost any life points? that spirit hasn't done anything to defeat Yugi since it used that Number, I wonder why that is..." Joey questioned. Draco answered his question quickly "it isn't part of the spirit's deck strategy, those cards are meant to destroy monsters with counters, then summon tokens with equal attack to do the damage for the spirit, if I remember right..." everyone looked at Draco "You know about those cards, Drac?!" Joey shouted, and the Dark Entity smiled wickedly "Of course he does, his people know our minions strengths firsthand and nearly died out fighting them!" everyone wondered what the spirit meant by "his people" and sensing their anxiety it continued with _**"all species in his homeland have very special talents, you see, and it would be such a waste to simply kill those monsters', but we're sure you know that, right-"**_

Draco had had enough "Shut up..." he growled with venom in his voice " The Age of Shadows ended countless millennia ago, you have NO right to judge us for our ancestors sins when your pets did *far* worse things!" he nearly shouted, and the evil being laughed manically _**"Oh yes, you never did tell your "friends" your secret, did you, Draco? If you don't tell them about it, they will certainly find out eventually..."**_

Before the Dark Entity could continue, Yugi made his move "You might be right about Draco having a deep secret, but that's his own business. Nobody else should let out that secret but him, and only once he's truly ready! I summon Feral Imp in defense mode and end my turn." a green furred imp appeared on the field and let out a shrill cry (Level 4, Dark Fiend. Atk/Def: 1300/1400) once his turn ended the Dark Entity shrugged Katsumi's shoulders and drew its card

 ** _"We summon Entropic Envoy Lesickre in attack mode, then equip it with Spirit Eater's Aura"_** the monster's body of mist turned blood red and its body mass grew _**"Now we activate Entropic Gardna's effect, placing an Entropy counter on your Feral Imp and gaining 400 defense points and life points"**_ the imp's life force was drained much like the other monsters (Atk/Def: 900/1000.) and the energy was sent to the evil spirit (Life Points: 2800), then the Entity ended its turn leaving one turn before it could defeat Yugi.

Yugi prepared to draw his next card _'Heart of the Cards, guide me...'_ "I... DRAW!" he looked at his new card and flashed a grin "This Duel is over, evil spirit! I summon Koumori Dragon In attack mode!" a violet dragon with partially red wings appeared on the field and let loose a roar (Level 4, Dark Dragon. Atk/Def: 1500/1200.) everyone was puzzled as to how this move would defeat the Negative Number. Katsumi's eyes widened as it finally clicked in the Dark Entity's mind what was going to happen _**"No, you can't possibly have..."**_

Yugi continued his move, as the galaxy shaped portal appeared again "I Overlay my Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress, my Feral Imp and my Koumori Dragon in order to build the Overlay Network" everyone watched in awe as they saw an Xyz Summon done by Yugi for the first time "Magician from the deepest corners of the mind, I bessech you to grant me the knowledge to end this Duel! I Xyz Summon Number P37; Mind Shadow Magician!" the spellcaster emerged from the vortex, ready to do battle with his master's foes (Rank 4, Dark Spellcaster. Atk/Def: 2250/3100.).

"I now activate Mind Shadow Magician's effect: once per turn, by removing one overlay unit, I can set one spell card from my deck facedown on the field, then by sending the top card of my deck to the Graveyard, I can immediately activate it, Spell Shattering Arrow!" a magical arrow appeared and destroyed the two Spirit Eater's Aura cards on the Entity's field, dealing 1000 points of effect damage (Life Points: 1800.) "Next I play the spell card Monster Reborn to revive the card I just sent to the Graveyard, Summoned Skull!" an archfiend resembling a skeleton to some degree appeared on Yugi's side (Level 6, Dark Fiend. Atk/Def: 2500/1200.) the evil spirit possessing Katsumi snorted "So you summoned a stronger monster than our Number, you still cannot destroy it without a Number card, and your only one you have is in defense mode!" Yugi smiled "but that card is what will help lead me to victory, for while it is in defense mode, it can attack using its defense points! Mind Shadow Magician, Dark Mind Collapse!" the spellcaster's left hand glows violet, followed by him expelling the energy towards his opponent, shattering its mind upon contact, and destroying it.

The Negative Number explodes in a burst of dark energy, dealing 700 damage to the Dark Entity's Life Points, while Yugi took half the damage it took (Life Points: Yugi;1650, Dark Entity; 1100.) the Dark Entity screamed in pain like a beast would and the explosion left small cuts on Yugi's and Katsumi's bodies. the spirit revealed itself as a black veil of energy with white eye-like specks of dim light where its eyes should be, and this gave Katsumi enough free will to shake off his possession "ughh... Yugi! hurry and finish this Duel, now's your chance!" Yugi smiled at Katsumi understandingly and continued his last move "Summoned Skull, attack Entropic Envoy Lesickre with Lightning Strike" the demon tossed a large ball of lightning at the Envoy, destroying it, and sending the Dark Entity screaming back into the Shadow Realm, ending the Duel (Life Points:0)

Everyone watched as the spirits of Wolfgang, Lizzie and the remainder of Katsumi's returned to their own bodies. There was a long silence, then Lizzie stirred "mmm, where am I? she said as she finally regained consciousness, and Draco rushed over to her "Lizzie, are you okay lass? I was worried sick about you!" Lizzie's eyes widened as she remembered the events before she fell unconscious "That's right! I lost my duel with Inoue and blacked out, then everything was a blank. What happ-" she was interrupted as the building started to collapse. "Katsumi, who had just gotten back on his feet said "We can explain later, the force of Yugi's Shadow Duel combined with the force sustaining the place removed has caused the mansion to finally crumble to the ground, so let's get out of here!"

Immediately after Yugi, Katsumi and the gang escaped from the manor, the building crumbled to dust and left no trace of the horrid events that took place there. Yugi turned to Katsumi and asked "Katsumi, how did you manage to regain control of your body, and how were you aware of what was going on, anyway?" Katsumi sighed, then let out the first genuine smile he made for years "My family comes from a long line of onmyoji, so I did retain most of my awareness through the ordeal." he winced from the cuts he had gotten in their Duel "And as for the first question, the evil spirit's hold on my soul was weakened when his Negative Number was destroyed, so I was able to squeeze a bit of my essence into my body again briefly."

he turned towards Lizzie and said "As for you, Lizard Girl, I was hoping you would beat me back in the Chance Cup, but it looks like you need a little more work on your feelings and strategies, a real duelist shouldn't let their opponent disturb their emotions." Lizzie looked like she was about to protest, but Inoue continued "However, you do seem to have great potential as a duelist despite your flaws. And Draco, do take better care of her from now on." Draco grunted in acknowledgement as Inoue left. before he was out of hearing distance, he called over his shoulder "Keep training Lizzie, and be sure to put up a great duel when we next meet!"

Lizzie smiled at her friends and said "Alright! now that that's over, let's rest up for the Finals, that especially means you, Draco! you don't want to lose after all of this, do you?" the cyan haired teen mock groaned at this and everyone laughed as they went home.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this story everyone, I hope you all enjoyed this. I also want to give special thanks to Wind Typhoon for favoriting this story, I wouldn't have gotten the motivation to keep writing near as soon if he hadn't.**

 **Until the next Duel!**


	6. Chapter 5, Aftermath and Confession

**Chapter 5, Aftermath and Confession**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello, Vulpimaru here, with another chapter of YGO-DD. as I my sometimes call it. Life has been a little distracting, but I still manage to take some time to work on this story, so it's not dead if anyone thinks that is the case. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. "It's time to Duel!"**

* * *

That night, Draco and Yugi discussed the events that happened over the past few days at the living room's coffee table "I still don't understand why that evil spirit possessing Inoue was hunting us down, or what it was talking about during our duel." Yugi said, deep in thought "I know I said that you would tell us when you were ready, but it's been nagging at my mind ever since the duel ended. Sorry Draco, I'm not meaning to pry, I'm just a little curious is all..." he looked down at his deck box where his Parallel Number was resting while saying this, still clearly troubled about today's events.

Draco weighed the situation carefully; on one hand, if he told Yugi about what he knew, what he was or where he was from, it would surely put Yugi and his friends in even more danger, and Draco didn't want that. On the other hand, if he didn't tell Yugi and left him to figure out on his own, he would be putting him in a risky situation as well, only without any information on what he's up against, which could very well be worse still.

Eventually Draco came to a conclusion; If he didn't tell Yugi now, he would be putting him and the others in even more danger than it was worth, and would be betraying his newfound friends' trust as well "Yugi, I want to tell you something important, just please don't tell the others." Yugi looked up from his deck box and at Draco with a surprised look on his face "You're going to tell me something important? I promise I won't tell anyone unless it's absolutely necessary. Is this about my duel with Inoue?"

Draco shook his head "No, not directly that is. It's about me and Lizzie. Who we are, where we come from and how we all came to meet each other. You see..." Draco started telling the story of Lizzie Calhoun in the other dimension, how she lived with her aunt and two younger cousins. He told Yugi of how she ended up in the Mythic Realms, how they met and briefly revealed his true identity as a Duel Spirit, which while it was shocking to Yugi, didn't affect their friendship negatively. Finally, he recounted the time they reached Yugi's dimension, how they met Yugi and his friends and how things went up until now.

Yugi, who had listened to Draco's tale patiently and wholly focused on his story spoke up again "That's... A lot to take in. But I believe your story, despite how unreal it may seem, especially considering what happened tonight. I won't tell anyone, as promised. Thank you for opening up to me." he smiled as Draco got up and yawned, back in his human form and exhaustion getting the better of him at last "Well, I had better get some rest, seeing as the Chance Cup Finals are tomorrow. Good night, my friend." he left for his room and quickly fell asleep, while Yugi lingered in the living room awhile longer processing the information he had just learned before also retiring to his room for the night, although he had a feeling this wasn't the end of these strange events.

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

It was the final day of the Chance Cup, and everyone had gathered at the Kaibaland Dueling Field to watch the final duel. Tristan and Joey were in their seats eating pizza they bought from one of the food vendors, while Téa and Yugi waited patiently for Lizzie to return from guiding Draco to the Duel Field, knowing by now how horrible Draco was with directions. When Lizzie returned Draco was already on the Duel Field waiting for Inoue to show up "What did I miss, Téa?" the other girl replied in a friendly manner "Nothing much. It's been fourteen minutes and Inoue still hasn't shown up. Was the trauma of yesterday too much for him?" the last sentence was spoken with visible concern. Lizzie thought for a brief moment and said "Nah, Inoue is probably on his way right now, and when they face off, it will definitely be a duel to remember!"

soon after she said that, a familiar voice came from behind them "Absolutely, Lizard Girl, you got a seat to spare?" Lizzie pointed to the seat on her left without looking behind her "Sure, you can use this one Inoue." it took her a moment to figure out who she was talking to, and what she just said, then everything came to an abrupt halt. everyone stared at the young duelist for a while, then Lizzie finally reacted to this unforeseen event "Whaaaaat?! what are you doing up here Inoue? you have a duel to take on!" Katsumi Inoue was grinning mischievously, completely unbothered by the fact he could get disqualified for his absence "Yeaaah, no. See, I'm not in a dueling mood right now, still tired and the like. Maybe next time, 'kay?" everyone looked at him incredulously as the timer went off

"And that's that! with Mr. Inoue unable to reach the Duel Field on time, Draco Errant wins by default!" there were shouts of protest in the crowd, which was in an uproar over the current circumstances. Katsumi looked around then said "Well, I've got to go. I guess somebody else will have to take the second place prize then... later!" before anyone could react, Katsumi was out the door and out of sight. Everyone present just stared at the door for a moment, completely ignoring what was going on around them "What... just happened...?" Téa just barely managed to say, just about as dumbstruck as the others "I think this is his way of saying sorry for last night, but..." Yugi started, but then he was interrupted by a young man with light brown hair and ice blue eyes, and slightly older than himself

"Umm... Excuse me, Mr. Mutou? my brother wishes to see you on the Duel Field, same goes for your friends there and there..." he points to Lizzie, then surprisingly Joey, who had just recovered from what Inoue pulled on everyone "Wha, me?! I mean, lead the way, buddy!" the young man looks slightly embarrassed at that "Actually, my name is Yasuhiro, but I prefer Yasu, I appreciate your enthusiasm though. Right this way, please!" he directed the three of them to the Duel Field, where Draco was speaking with another man. He was older than Yasu and had brown hair, although it was darker than that of Yasu's, but had the same soul-piercing ice blue eyes, so the three of them were sure that was Yasu's brother.

 _'I wonder what he wants us for? I've heard of these brothers, though.'_ Yugi thought as they walked towards the stage _'the Kimura Family run the Kimura Gaming Company, one of Kaibacorp.'s biggest rivals in gaming and technology. They probably heard about my duel with Kaiba, but if that's the reason, why did they bring Joey up here? I wonder...'_ when they reached the top, they were greeted by Draco giving them a friendly wave, and Yasu's older brother spoke " Greetings, Yugi Mutou, Lizzie Calhoun and..." he paused for a moment upon looking at Joey, mildly annoying him "Joey? Yes I believe that's your name. I, Dimitri Kimura, CEO of K.G.C., have called you three here to present you with the finalist prize on request of Mr. Inoue." they looked surprised that Inoue decided to give Yugi and Joey his prize instead of another contestant "He requested that each of you two would be presented with half of his prize, and that since Ms. Calhoun already gets her own semifinalist prize she won't get part of it."

Lizzie nodded at the last part of that sentence as each of the three friends was presented with two booster packs "These Duel Monsters booster packs contain never before seen cards, freshly made and ready for public beta testing. three new types of monsters can be found among them " Dimitri explained "Synchro Monsters, those are the cards with white frames, Tuner Monsters, which are used to Synchro Summon them, and finally Xyz Monsters, the ones with black frames" Dimitri leaned over to Yugi and Joey, then whispered "You guys will need these, don't lose them. Good luck finding your friend, Wheeler." Joey paled at that _'How does he know about that!? none of us met him before, and he knows... hold on, Draco told him, didn't he!? I thought we agreed to keep yesterday's incident between us!'_ then he remembered everyone present *did* agree to keep quiet about the Abandoned Manor after Inoue left- it then came to him; Inoue told Dimitri Kimura about yesterday.

Dimitri didn't seem to notice Joey's worried expression and finished by giving Draco that year's Chance Cup Trophy, and the crowd having all but forgotten the no-show of Inoue cheered for the new champion. After the tournament ended, Dimitri walked over to Lizzie and Draco in the tournament lobby and was greeted by Lizzie "Hey there Mr. Kimura, is there something you need? We have a little more time before we leave." she was smiling warmly, and Draco was chuckling at his friend's formalities, having found earlier that Dimitri preferred being called by his first name outside of business meetings. Said CEO sighed, face-palming and said "Liz, as flattered as I am that your being formal at this time, I'd rather you just call me Dimitri, it gets frustrating when people call me that outside of work."

Lizzie grinned apologetically and Dimitri continued "I watched you dueling with Inoue, and he told me you have the potential to become a great duelist. He hasn't spoken so highly of anyone for most of the time I've known him, I think it's safe to say that he has finally found himself a rival in you." Lizzie looked pretty puzzled about that "So I actually have a rival now? But he beat me so easily during the tournament, how could I be a worthy rival for him?" Dimitri had a serious look on his face, as he spoke in an equally serious tone "Inoue doesn't get along well with most people, one might call him somewhat introverted. Despite this he is a great judge of character, and tends to judge people more on their personalities and personal identities over their skills and whatnot. He probably sees something he really likes about your "inner self" shall we say?"

Lizzie looked toward Draco and he seemed to agree with K.G.C.'s CEO, so she shrugged lightly "Well, if he really thinks I'm worth his time, I'd better live up to his expectations from now on, huh? I'm also going to need to prepare for our next duel. I think I understand his deck a bit better, so I should have a better chance next time." Dimitri frowned a bit at that "I hate to say this, but Inoue didn't use his actual deck that time, he was just using cards he got from random booster packs he bought before the tournament"

Lizzie tensed a little at his words "Wait a minute, he was holding back!? what's his real deck like, Dimitri?" Dimitri visibly shuddered and responded shakily "Last time I dueled that deck was a nightmare for me. I was lucky enough to end the duel in a draw, and he didn't even need Ritual or Fusion monsters to duel effectively." He regained his composure and continued "If you want my advice, stop him from summoning his higher level monsters, then hope and pray he doesn't have a backup plan." Lizzie was annoyed, all the CEO gave her was vague information about Inoue's deck, but she shrugged it off. At least she knew to train harder than she had before, and expect things to be harder next time the two of them meet.

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

After they left, Yugi and friends went to Wolfgang's restaurant and had burgers, and fortunately for Lizzie there were vegetarian burgers on the menu. They talked about Duel Monsters and told exchanged jokes, although it wasn't quite as good without Michael around to join the fun. When asked to show them the cards in her booster packs, Lizzie gladly obliged, and the cards she got turned out to improve her deck even more, and although only a handful were Xyz monsters and only one was a Synchro monster, she got some great effect monsters, including the Horus the Black Flame Dragon set and some tuners.

On the way home, Lizzie and Yugi had to constantly make sure Draco was still following them, lest he wander off to who knows where. When the three got home, Grandpa Mutou was there waiting for them "Welcome home, how was the final match? I heard Draco won the tournament, is this true?" he asked.

Draco nodded "I won the tournament, but Inoue forfeit the match, so I'm not sure I am ready for the pro circuit yet." Solomon looked somewhat disappointed that Inoue forfeit, but he congratulated Draco anyway, and gave them both dueling advice before they went to their rooms. In Draco's room, Draco looked over the cards he had gotten in his booster packs, and found that the cards fit well with his deck when he put them in. Pleased, Draco got into bed and went to sleep.

In Lizzie's room, Lizzie was already asleep, dreaming vivid dreams of being with her cousins again. A few tears leaked from her shut eyes as she dreamed of the family she accidentally left behind.

* * *

 **Chapter End**

* * *

 **A/N: That's the end of the Chance Cup Mini-Arc, and things should be getting a bit more interesting from here on out. Up next is Duelist Kingdom at last, but with a few twists. Thank you for your patience and for taking the time to read this story. Duel Standby!**


	7. Chapter 6, New Friends and Abduction

**A/N: Hello again, readers, In this chapter, things will begin to take place in the Duelist Kingdom Arc (With a nice number of changes of course!) and will take a look at some more OCs that Lizzie befriended (note that some historical things in this may or may not be accurate.). To those who have continued reading, thank you! I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, otherwise, I would make an uncut remake of every series. "It's Time to Duel!"  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 6, New Friends and Kidnapping**

* * *

A few weeks after the Chance Cup, Lizzie walked through the halls of Domino High with her new friends Maki and Akane. they were walking out of their classroom, where they just studied about the Shang Dynasty in China. Lizzie loved history lessons, it gave her opportunities to learn more about the older time periods which influenced the modern day, that and she was planning to become an archeologist when she graduated from high school. She seemed interested in many of the cultural pieces of the Shang Dynasty, such as their culture being based on agriculture mixed with hunting and animal husbandry or their use of oracle bones for history recording.

Akane Kawaguchi was humming a song from another of their friends' bands while they were walking. Lizzie met the freshman student in her first P.E. Class and they found they got along splendidly ever since. She had smooth and flowing long red hair and lively amber eyes. She had an athletically built body from training at her father's dojo in Kyoto, and was often seen outside school in her light green martial arts uniform with the kanji symbol of her family and dojo on its back, preferring to go barefoot or at least wear light boots.

Maki was talking with her friends about her favorite manga series gone anime in great detail, ' _what was it called again? Oh right, "Yokai Detective Shiki Fujimoto", how could I forget, its the show Akane's mom voice acts in. Not too bad for a modern/supernatural hybrid manga._ ' Lizzie chuckled to herself thinking about how she met Maki. Lizzie met Maki Fukui when Lizzie was headed to the local bookstore to buy extra textbooks for school. She bumped into Maki when she had been reading a book on old Japanese folktales. After a discussion on said subject plus Duel Monsters shortly after, they learned they were in the same class as each other, and the ever cheerful Maki offered to hang out with Lizzie more often.

Maki had curly lavender colored hair and slanted green eyes. She is very thin and somewhat frail. She prefers a blue and green kimono and sandals oftentimes, especially during formal occasions, but wore the Domino High School uniform when at school, or when a kimono would be a liability or unsafe. She wears a brass bracelet on her left arm that she seems to treasure quite dearly, but Lizzie had yet to ask about it.

As they were preparing to leave school they encountered their other friends. Kamau Vito and Yasuhiro Kimura were waiting for them at the entrance to the school, Kamau let loose his surprisingly well-known carefree grin upon seeing the girls headed their way "Yo Lizzie, how was class today? Learn anything new? I heard you guys were learning about Ancient China this time!" Lizzie let loose a small smile, Kamau moved here from San Francisco because of his father being hired by Kaiba Corporation earlier this year, and he was actually a founding member of the Hex Punks, and American boy band that a number of the girls at Domino High fangirled over for some reason.

"Yeah, the subject today was the Shang Dynasty to be exact, I wish you two were in the same class as us. I know how much you love cultural studies like this!" Akane said in a teasing yet playful way. Kamau truly did love cultural studies, more so than Lizzie did considering he was borderline obsessed with books on ancient history and cultures. Kamau has dusky brown skin, short curly black hair and light brown eyes. He likes to wear tan cargo pants and a T-Shirt of the Hex Punks outside of school.

Kamau mock groaned "awwww man, and here we had to study about the Civil War, boooooring!" Yasu gave the girls an apologetic look for his peer's behavior before they all shared a laugh and prepared to hang out for awhile. Or they would have had Draco not gone missing again. Draco was enrolled in Domino High along with Lizzie by Mrs. Mutou, who wanted them to continue their normal studies in addition to Duel Monsters study, as well as make more friends. Sighing exasperatedly, Lizzie told them to go on without her and meet at Kame Games later tonight, then set out to find her best friend.

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

Draco, as it turned out, had fallen down an open manhole on the way home and wound up lost in the sewers of Domino City. This isn't exactly new for him, as something similar happened to him in the city of Sygh-Varths in the Mythic Realms continent of Rondeval a couple years ago trying to escape the Empire's Soldiers during his training. He continued to wander through the sewer system until he heard a voice calling his name. Looking up, he found Lizzie looking for him above another open manhole and called her name. Lizzie looked down the manhole, her nose plugged with one hand "DRACO!? How did you get down there? You were supposed to wait for the rest of us!" she shouted down to him.

Draco rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look on his face "um, I can explain later. I'm sorry, but could you please help me out of here, I'm kind of stuck down here." Lizzie groaned and looked for a way down. the ladder was broken and was midway through repairs, so that wasn't an option, but while looking she lost her balance and fell into the sewers, landing right on top of Draco. the two of them were stuck in an awkward position, both blushing furiously before getting themselves back up and profusely apologizing before looking for a way out.

After several wrong turns, backtracks, and one incident of Lizzie almost drowning in sewage water, the two friends got out of the sewers and heading back home to Kame Games. Of course, due to their time in the sewage they had to clean themselves off *very* well that day before Yugi and his friends got home. Later that night, Grandpa Mutou thought it would be a great idea to watch the Regional Duel Monsters Championship as part of their training.

"I don't believe it! Bug Boy vs. Dinosaur Breath!? that should be me in there!" Joey complained irritably. Joey had been training harder than ever before ever since the events at the Abandoned Manor just in case another incident like that happened again, and also to find a way to save Michael. That was not to say that he wasn't interested in the regular tournaments, he just had more motivation to hone his dueling skills than most now. "I know you've been training for weeks," Téa said "but those guys are in another league, you're just not ready yet."

Draco spoke next, his eyes glued to the duel between Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood as though watching a pair of dueling comedians "Téa's right you know, you need more experience in dueling before you can take on Rex Raptor for the champion's title, he has a purple dinosaur for crying out loud! PURPLE!" he remarked sarcastically, while Lizzie wondered if he knew about a certain television show in her world that creeped her out. Joey looked a little disappointed hearing this "Oh, sure. Rub it in why don't you?" he said in return before nodding off for awhile.

Yugi commented on how his grandpa's training must be getting to Joey as Lizzie prodded him with her finger, then Tristan teased "well I guess that saying is right; You snooze, you lose!" as Joey woke up, annoyed with his friend for that witty remark. Grandpa came in with a package for Yugi and complimented his students' on their progress. Joey was especially praised, but when Joey tried to hug him, Grandpa Mutou walked towards Yugi to give him the package, apparently from Industrial Illusions, leaving Joey sprawled on the floor, twitching.

After the duel was over, Yugi opened the package and everyone looked inside "It's a glove..." Téa observed "And stars!" Joey added. Tristan suggested the video within might have more info on these objects. Draco looked wary when looking at the tape, and Lizzie had felt a shiver run down her spine for some reason. Ever since she got her soul back from the Dark Entity, she seemed to have a close connection to what Draco called "the Spirit World", and had begun to see her cards in the form of spirits in her dreams.

When the tape was put in the cassette player, a picture of Maximillian Pegasus appeared on the screen "You know, this reminds me of one of those videos I watched online the other day, talk about creepy..." Lizzie said as Pegasus said he was going to duel Yugi through the video tape. Draco saw a glint of golden light from behind Pegasus' silver hair, where his eye would be and his eyes widened "LIZZIE, GET BACK!" he pulled out a Non-Spellcasting Area card and a barrier went around the two as Yugi, along with Lizzie and Draco went to the Shadow Realm while the others were frozen with magic.

Yugi looked back at his friends, noticing only Lizzie and Draco were unaffected by Pegasus' magic "What have you done to my friends! where have you taken us!?" Pegasus chuckled at this and stated that they were no longer in their world, and that they would be returned to normal after their duel "Although I am quite curious about those two, nobody has been able to resist my magic like that before." he observed. The Millennium Puzzle glowed and Yugi seemed to show more confidence "Start the clock and make your move Pegasus." then the duel started.

Pegasus placed one facedown card "Nervous, Yugi-boy? You should be, you have *never* faced a duelist like me before." Yugi took a card from his hand "You may be good, but I will defeat you, and save my friends!" Pegasus smirked and stated "You won't save anyone with that dragon card!" Lizzie looked stunned, the spiritual energy coming from Pegasus was tremendous, she could barely move or breathe. Draco on the other hand was furious; How DARE Pegasus use one of the Mythic Realm's most sacred relics' powers in such a way! Before he said anything though, Yugi summoned his Koumori Dragon to the field, only to have it absorbed by the Dragon Capture Jar Trap Card.

Things turned out pretty one-sided from that point on, even after Yugi summoned Dark Magician, Pegasus took control of the him using the Eye of Illusion Spell Card, destroying his Celtic Guardian, leaving him with too little life points to win the duel on time. Pegasus said that next time they dueled it would be at much higher stakes. Yugi refused to be a part of Pegasus' sick game, but Pegasus used his Millennium Eye to steal Grandpa Mutou's soul, thus using him as bait for Yugi.

When they left the Shadow Realm, Solomon collapsed and Yugi was shouting for his grandfather, pounding at the T.V. . Needless to say, everyone but Draco and Lizzie were quite confused. Lizzie's other friends then arrived, and Lizzie explained what happened to all her friends with tear-filled eyes. It felt as though her parents had died all over again, but she knew that wasn't the case here, so she made a promise to herself. ' _I will save Mr. Mutou... I will bring him back!_ '.

Elsewhere, at Pegasus' Castle, Pegasus was speaking with his attendant, Croquet "Did you send the other package?" said employee nodded "Yes, Mr. Pegasus, the youth should be getting it sometime tomorrow." Pegasus acknowledged that and dismissed Croquet, then entered another room, where a young boy with teal hair, about 8 years old was waiting, his eyes softened seeing this brave boy for some reason "Are you sure he come here like you said?" the child spoke "definitely, sir. It isn't in his nature to refuse." Pegasus agreed, then left the room and closed his normal eye ' _Just wait a little longer, Cecilia. I will bring you back, one way or another..._ '.

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there's another chapter for you, thanks to a spark of inspiration. Well, looks like things will begin in earnest soon, and I have good news. I'm going to try to make another chapter asap, so just wait awhile longer. "Duel Standby!"**


	8. Chapter 7, of Tournaments and Rescues

**A/N: Wow, two chapters in one day. I'm surprised with myself, although it's probably because I haven't done a duel scene for awhile, and that has cut the chapters pretty short so far. the chapter after this one will have multiple duels, so hopefully it should be worth the wait. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs, just my OCs and other custom content. "It's Time to Duel!"**

* * *

 **Chapter 7, of Tournaments and Rescues**

* * *

Yugi sat on the top of the school with Joey, both thinking about the ones they wish to save. As they reminisced about how they first became friends, Lizzie talked to her friends "You seriously plan to sneak on board the boat to Duelist Kingdom!?" Yasu said disbelievingly, worried for Lizzie's safety, while Akane and Maki glanced at each other and giggled a bit "Of course I'm going, my other friends are and so are you! More importantly, Yugi's grandpa got his soul snatched by that creep, and I have to help!" Yasuhiro looked at her caringly, much like an older brother would. indeed, he sometimes treated her like he would his many brothers and sisters "Well, I honestly doubt I could stop you anyway, just try not to get caught and thrown off, ok?" she gave him a thumbs up, and the bell that told them school was out rang, so they went home.

Back at Kame Games, Draco found a package identical to Yugi's. Not trusting it, but reasoning that he was alone at the time he opened it and placed the video tape in ' _If Pegasus is going to take my soul, it won't be without a fight!_ ' he thought with grim determination, but instead of Pegasus, it was a man with black hair and sunglasses "Draco E. Timaeus," Draco was shocked that they knew his surname, as he never used it in this world "by the request of Mr. Pegasus, you are to be honored with the right to duel at Duelist Kingdom Tournament. In doing so, you will be able to meet with somebody you have been looking for recently. The boat will leave a few days from now, so be prepared. We'll be waiting."

As the message ended, Draco puzzled over what he said about who he was looking for, then it hit him like a freight train "those wretches... They took him!? Caleb..." he sat there for a moment, remembering the day they were separated

* * *

Flashback

* * *

Draco had just turned 16 the day before, and his mentor had given him a week's break from training to be with his brother. When Draco got back to the tent, Caleb was done with washing the dishes in the cabin they were living in. it was by the ocean cliff side, and feral monsters lived over there so they had to be extra cautious. _'Strangely enough, there hasn't been any signs of ferals for weeks, somethings off_... _'_ he then heard Caleb talking with their mentor about the tomes he was studying. ' _That man was a godsend, he gave us our lives back when we had nowhere to go and lived on the streets of Enno. We owe him our lives'_ he thought as he set prepared for his outing with his kid brother.

Draco had decided to give Caleb his first hunting lesson, as he had promised him when Caleb was younger. Caleb caught a rabbit, but not wanting to kill it let the creature go free. Draco couldn't help but smile at that "Caleb, don't ever lose your pure heart, promise me that please?" Caleb looked back at his older brother, a grin on the Gigobyte's face "Sure! I promise to stay a good person like mom and dad wished for us!" Their parents had died three years ago, when they had been betrayed by an old friend of theirs, their home burned to the ground.

Then suddenly the clouds darkened and a gateway appeared. out of it came monsters they had only heard of in ghost stories "Entropic Envoys! Caleb, run for it!" he shouted urgently to his brother, who complied soon after. As they were running they found themselves surrounded in the woods. As they prepared for their demise, their teacher hacked through the monsters, his blue eyes more serious than the brothers had ever seen the golden haired man "Keep moving, I'll hold them off long enough for you to escape!" the two ran off, but not before they glanced back hesitantly, tears in both brothers' eyes.

They had found themselves in an open field, with no trees in sight, a river at the far end of the fields. The two of them had chosen to rest for the time being, but Caleb pointed to something nearby "Brother, what is that?" his eyes wide, Draco watched as Caleb ran towards an unstable Dimensional Nexus "Caleb, stay away from there!" he warned, but it was too late: Caleb was swallowed up by the Nexus, leaving Draco all alone on the plains, where he would someday soon make a fateful encounter with a woman from another world "CALEEEEEB!"

* * *

End of Flashback

* * *

Draco closed his eyes, not even trying to hold back the tears "Caleb, you're alive... Thank the gods you're alive!" when his eyes opened, they were filled with the determination to save his brother at all costs. Pegasus would not know what hit him, Millennium Item be Da**ed...

When Yugi and Lizzie got home, they noticed Draco had received a package too. When asked, he told them he was invited to Duelist Kingdom too, but didn't tell them about his brother, not wanting to trouble them further. Knowing he had his reasons to enter the tournament, but not wanting to force him to tell them more, his two friends wished him good luck and got ready for the tournament...

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

"I'm glad they let you two on board, Joey, Lizzie." apparently the "Star Chips" were proof one was a duelist and that every contestant needed one. So when Joey and Lizzie were caught without them, Lizzie was sure they wouldn't be let on until Yugi and Draco gave Joey and Lizzie a Star Chip respectively. After a short while of talking with Pegasus by phone, they agreed to let the two on. Meanwhile, Téa, Tristan, Maki and Akane had stowed away in a shipping crate unnoticed.

"Only because you and Draco sacrificed one of your Star Chips for us each. I just hope nobody finds out we each only have one Star Chip, they could take complete advantage of us..." Joey said to Yugi. Lizzie stared at the blond teen "Really? you just had to say that out loud, didn't you?" Joey was about to respond to her when a woman with blond hair and violet eyes walked over to them. she wore an open purple jacket and a purple miniskirt to match "Well what do we have here?" Joey seemed to be entranced with her, but she ignored him and got a bit too close to Yugi "So you're the Yugi kid everyone is talking about, huh? I can't believe a squirt like you defeated Kaiba. You're famous, you know!"

Yugi looked more than a little embarrassed "T-Thanks very much, I think..." Joey tried to introduce himself, but she ended up cutting him off, suggesting to Yugi that he dump Joey and the others. Later, Joey finished trading cards with some other contestants. He got a Salamandra, a Baby Dragon, a Kunai with Chain and a Shield and Sword card. Yugi gave him Time Wizard as a gift as well.

It was around this time that Weevil, the Regional Champion, asked to see Yugi's Exodia cards, which Yugi accepted. Once he had them in his hands, Weevil threw them into the ocean. Joey dove in to retrieve them, but only managed to get two of them before the others had to rescue him and Yugi, who had jumped in to save Joey. "Tristan, Téa, I'm glad you guys are here!" Yugi said, relieved all his friends were here and they gave him and the others their support "Maki, Akane, you came too!?" Akane grinned widely "You didn't think we'd let you leave on your own, did you? we're your friends, and by extension, Yugi's friends!" she said boldly then Maki added "Plus we may have only known you for a few weeks, and we hardly know Yugi at all, being in a different class from him, but we thought you could use some help. Take this, Lizzie and Draco."

she handed Lizzie and Draco each a blank black card "they're my good luck charms, with them, you should have some better luck in the tournament, heavens know you'll need them." Draco wondered where Maki got these, and why they didn't take a shape like others of their kind typically have, but the two thanked her regardless. Joey felt guilty about how he had only gotten two of the Exodia cards back, and explained about his sister, Serenity who he plans to win the 3,000,000 dollar prize to pay for an important eye operation for.

The steadily growing group of friends Yugi made, each with their own goals are now approaching Duelist Kingdom, where they will begin their quest to save Yugi's grandfather.

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

 **Another chapter done. If anyone has anything they need to ask or have fixed concerning this story, please PM me and I'll see how I can help. I welcome any constructive criticism, as it may well help this story get better. "Duel Standby!"**


	9. Chapter 8, Dragunity and the Dark Seal

**A/N: Here's another chapter of YGO-DD, and this time there will not be one or two duels, but three! Although one of the duels may have some darker elements in it... This takes place in the general timeframe of Episode 4. Also, sorry about the old chapter name. It might sound silly, but that was intended to be a joke, but I'm guessing it made the chapter not very well liked, so I changed it. Also, here's an update on Draco's human appearance; He has added a sky-blue short sleeved vest and switched his shorts with green camo pants starting before they got on the boat.** **Now for the Disclaimer. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs, all content belongs to its respective owners. "It's time to Duel!"**

* * *

Chapter 8, Dragunity and the Dark Seal!

* * *

When the group got off the ship, Tristan almost blew his cover trying not-so-calmly walking past them. Luckily nobody suspected any stowaways onboard so he was dismissed as a very nervous contestant. "Way to play it cool Tristan." Téa said sarcastically, while Akane was sniggering and Lizzie just shook her head wearily. Said Reptile Duelist had been having nightmares of her parents' deaths and Grandpa Mutou's kidnapping, each one more vivid than the ones before. This in turn kept her from resting properly and resulted in several losses during her practice duels with Draco and Yugi.

"You doing alright, Liz? You barely slept a wink last night, I'm starting to get worried about you..." Draco asked Lizzie gently as the others had been talking about the Tournament and that scumbag Weevil. Lizzie stifled a yawn "Mm-fine, jus' had a lot on my mind, that's all." it wasn't a complete lie, she *did* have a lot on her mind lately. For one, she wondered why she was here and what the voice near that "Stone of Ages" thing meant by "Find the one you have lost" or whatever.

Then there was the kidnapping of Mr. Mutou's soul, why would Pegasus do such a thing, especially to Yugi's grandpa, who had never hurt anyone? Lizzie's face darkened briefly at the thought briefly, but Draco seemed to catch on "Is this about-" he was interrupted when a man with square sunglasses and hair that spiked upward at the front "Welcome all duelists. Follow the stairs to meet your host!" as the group walked up the stairs, Téa noticed Bakura in the woods surrounding the castle's stairs, but he vanished so she thought she was seeing things and they moved on. Lizzie shuddered, for some reason Bakura creeped her out, despite his friendly personality.

When the group got to the top, they and all the other contestants were briefed on the rules of the tournament by none other than Pegasus himself. Basically they had to bet their Star Chips and win more of them until they had ten, then they'd be allowed into the castle for the finals. 'And our final confrontation with Pegasus' Lizzie thought with determination to rescue Grandpa Mutou. She had never gotten to know her grandparents, since they died before she could remember them, but she imagined they must have been something like Solomon Mutou, kind, caring and tempered with good discipline.

Maki spoke up as they were walking to search for Weevil so they could squash him like the bug he really is "So you guys do realize you are gambling to get into the castle, right?" Draco grunted and affirmative as Yugi answered "If it means we can reach Pegasus and rescue Grandpa, we have to risk it." Lizzie spoke next "I agree on this, although it's not really like we have a choice in the matter..." as they were walking, only Lizzie seemed to notice that Draco had wandered off again and thus she went to look for him, but not before telling Maki where she was going.

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

Draco had somehow found himself in a mountain range, having a stare-down with Yasuhiro Kimura. It was silent for a moment before Yasu said "Wow, seriously? I was up here to get some time away from crowds, and I still end up with company." Draco just nodded numbly before noticing Yasu's Duel Glove "You only have one Star Chip. so you lost a Duel already?" Yasu looked at his Duel Glove and confirmed it "So, we each only have one Star Chip, then. Would you like to Duel me for one?" Draco asked. Yasu agreed to duel Draco and a Duel Field appeared near where they were standing.

After they shuffled their decks, the duel started. Yasuhiro went first "I'll start by activating a monster effect from my hand. By sending my Dragunity Aklys to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon Dragunity Arma Mystletainn in attack position!" a bipedal dragon with four wings and a sword in its hand appeared on the field (Level 6, Wind, Dragon/Effect. Atk/Def: 2100/1500.) "Next, I equip Aklys to my Mystletainn using its effect and summon Flying Kamakiri #1 in attack position. I set two cards facedown and end my turn." a green insect monster with four clawed arms and a set of wings appeared on the field (Level 4, Wind, Insect/Effect. Atk/Def: 1400/900.

'I _see, He's using a Dragunity Deck... Well, time to test out my new cards then!_ ' Draco thought as he started his turn "My move, Draw!" he looked at his hand then decided what he would play " First, I summon Skilled White Magician in attack position" a robed mage wielding a white staff with a blue orb atop it materialized (Level 4, Light, Spellcaster/Effect. Atk/Def: 1700/1900.) Draco continued his turn "Next I set one card facedown and play the spell cards Card Trader and Mystical Space Typhoon. The former allows me to trade one card in my hand for a random one in my deck at the Standby Phase, while the latter simply destroys one spell or trap on the field. Both cause my magician to gain one Spell Counter." the facedown trap card Icarus Attack was destroyed by Draco's spell "Now, Skilled White Magician, attack his Flying Kamakiri #1!"

as Yasu's life points went down he explained his monster's effect (Yasu -300= 1700.) "When Flying Kamakiri is destroyed, I can special summon a wind attribute monster with equal to or less than 1500 attack points, come forth, the Tuner monster Dragunity Brandistock!" a tiny dragon with a spear like horn on its head appeared on the field (Level 1, Wind. Dragon/Tuner/Effect. Atk/Def: 600/400.) ' _a Tuner monster? He must be planning to Synchro Summon on the next turn._ ' "I'll end my turn here, it's your move!"

Yasu quietly drew his card then made his next move "I tune my level one Dragunity Brandistock with my level six Dragunity Arma Mystletainn. Synchro Summon, level seven Dragunity Knight - Trident in attack position!" a large dragon with a humanlike rider emerged on the field, roaring viciously (Level 7, Wind, Dragon/Synchro/Effect). Yasu continued his turn " Aklys' effect activates, when it is sent to the graveyard as an equip card, I can destroy one card on the field. Say goodbye to your magician!"

a spirit form of said dragon shot from the graveyard and pierced the Skilled White Magician, destroying it. "Next, I summon Dragunity Legionnaire in attack position, then activate its effect to equip Aklys to it" a birdman in roman armor materialized to the field and Aklys turned into its weapon "This duel is over! Trident, attack Draco's Life Points Directly!" the knight prepared to strike Draco down but Draco countered "It's not over yet, Yasu! I activate my trap; Zero Gravity, to switch the positions of all monsters on the field and stopping your attack!" Dragunity Knight Trident and Legionnaire took a defensive stance, then Yasuhiro grunted and said "Right, it's your move Draco. Make the most of it..."

Draco thought about his options _'I have Dark Blade and Pitch-Dark Dragon in my hand, let's hope I draw...'_ "My move, I Draw!" he looked at the card in his hand then continued "I activate the Spell Card, Polymerization to fuse Dark Blade and Pitch-Dark Dragon" the two monsters in his hand appeared on the field then began to meld together "Fusion Summon, Dark Blade The Dragon Knight!" Dark Blade reappeared riding atop the Pitch-Dark Dragon (Level 6, Dark. Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Atk/Def: 2100/1500) "Dark Blade, attack his Trident!" after his monster was destroyed, Yasu spoke up "Not bad, Draco. You defeated Trident without much trouble, but I'm not done yet myself!" Draco nodded an affirmative and ended his turn"

Yasu drew a card "I set one facedown card, then activate Legionnaire's effect. by sending Aklys to the Graveyard, I can destroy your Dragon Knight!" the bird warrior tossed Aklys at Dark Blade, destroying him "Aklys' effect also destroys a card on the field, so your Card Trader is no more! Dragunity Legionnaire, attack Draco Directly!" Draco got hit full force by the monster's attack this time (-1200= 800.) "That's all for now, you'd better do something fast or you will lose." Yasu said as Draco's turn began

 _'Yasu's right, I have to draw a game changer or I won't be able to save Caleb! Here goes...'_ Draco briefly saw an image of his brother in his mind "My move, I... DRAW!" when he saw the card in his hand, he knew the duel would end this time "I summon Buster Blader in attack position!" Yasu's eyes widened as the dragon slayer appeared on his opponent's side of the field (Level 7, Earth. Warrior/Effect. Atk/Def: 2600/2300.) "Buster Blader gains 500 attack points for every dragon monster you control or is in your graveyard, I count three. That gives my Buster Blader 4100 attack points! Buster Blader, attack Yasu's Dragunity Dux!" the Destruction Swordsman sliced through the avian soldier, thus Yasuhiro Kimura was removed from the tournament (- 2600= 0 LP, winner: Draco)

The two duelists got off of the duel field and shook hands "It was a pleasure dueling you Draco, here's your Star Chip as per the rules." Draco received the Star Chip with a small smile on his face "Likewise, but aren't you worried? you lost your last Star Chip, won't you be taken off the island?" Yasuhiro shook his head "Me? nah, Pegasus invited me to stay at his castle for a week or so while we discussed the new summon mechanics being fully integrate into his game, so I kind of have to stay..." Draco laughed that he forgot Yasuhiro got VIP access to meet with Pegasus since his family worked with KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusions on a regular basis.

Once he was done laughing, Draco's expression sobered and became serious "Yasu, when you see Pegasus again, send him a message for me. Tell him I'm coming to pick my brother up and that he had better hope Caleb doesn't get hurt while I'm away. Think you can manage that?" Yasuhiro looked a bit confused at first, but then caught the message's meaning "alright, I'll be sure to tell him. Your brother is lucky to have you, and I would know considering how many siblings I have!" he gave Draco a friendly pat on the back then the two went their separate ways.

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

Lizzie was seriously wondering why Draco kept getting lost like this. She was sitting by the ocean, baffled as to the whereabouts of her best friend. It didn't make her feel all that much better when she realized her best friends were a scaly and a kid wearing a magic piece of jewelry. Sighing, she got up and prepared to continue her search until she saw a teal haired blur in the distance _'Found him, I don't know anyone else with that hair color!'_ she thought as she raced towards the blur.

It turned out that the person wasn't Draco, although he did look like him. The youth looked to be about her age, had teal hair and green eyes like Draco, but had suntanned skin. He was searching for something in the sand frantically when Lizzie showed up "You aren't- you know what, never mind. What are you looking for? the young man stopped to look at her, stared for a moment, squinting, then said "I'm looking for my sunglasses, have you seen them? They were fitted to help with my eyesight and I can't see properly without them."

Lizzie could sympathize with him, she had sight issues as well, so she had to wear glasses to see well too. She looked around then saw something glint in the sun a foot away from where the blue haired teen was looking and picked it up. "I found your glasses, here you go!" the bluehead reached out to take the glasses "Thank y-" just when he grabbed the glasses, the youth's eyes closed and he began snoring _'Really!? I help him find his glasses and he falls asleep on the drop of a- oh, I think I get it, he has narcolepsy... great.'_

After she woke him up, he promptly took his glasses and put them on "thank you, sorry about that, I've had that problem since I was little." he explained, looked at Lizzie then at her Duel Glove "You're a duelist? Maybe we could have a duel, that should be a good warmup, right?" Lizzie thought about this. She really wanted to find Draco, but she also needed to win enough Star Chips to enter Pegasus' Castle and find Yugi's Grandpa. After weighing her choices, she reasoned with herself that Draco could take care of himself for awhile yet and accepted the young man's challenge

The two got onto a duel field that appeared near them and they briefly introduced themselves "My name's Silas Gale, what's yours?" Lizzie smiled warmly and responded "Lizzie Calhoun, nice to meet you!" Silas' eyes had a spark of determination in them "I see. In that case, I won't hold anything back!" Lizzie wondered what he meant, but shrugged it off and the duel started

Lizzie started first "I draw! First I summon Lion Alligator in attack position" an alligator with an orange man appeared on the field and snapped its jaws (Level 4, Water. Reptile/Effect. Atk/Def: 1900/200.) "I'll set two facedown cards and end my turn. Are you even going to stay awake!?" she shouted the last sentence at Silas, who had fallen asleep at the duel interface.

He woke up and started his turn "I'll start by summoning the Tuner Monster Deep Sea Diva and activate her effect" a woman with a fish tail instead of legs appeared then began singing "when Deep Sea Diva is normal summoned, I can special summon one level 3 or lower Sea Serpent Monster from my deck. I summon Atlantean Heavy Infantry in attack position." The best Lizzie could describe the monster before her was "freaky fish guy", then she thought for a moment _'wait a minute, he's got a tuner monster and a non-tuner on the field, does he plan to Synchro Summon?'_

Silas continued his turn "since Atlantean Heavy Infantry is on the field, I perform an extra normal summon as long as it's a level 4 or lower sea serpent monster, I summon Armed Sea Hunter in attack position" a fish human hybrid armed with a bow joined the other two monsters on Silas side of the field (Level 4, Water. Sea Serpent/Effect. Atk/Def: 1800/400) "I overlay my Deep Sea Diva with my Atlantean Heavy Infantry in order to build the Overlay Network" Lizzie looked a little surprised at that "I Xyz Summon, Rank 2 Cat Shark in defense position!" Lizzie simply squealed at the sight of the shark/cat hybrid that emerged from the vortex (Rank 2, Water. Beast/Xyz/Effect. Atk/Def: 500/500)

"He packs more punch than you think, I assure you. I set one facedown card and end my turn, your move." Lizzie drew a card "Alright, I'll summon Ancient Lizard Warrior in attack position." a bipedal lizard with green scales, a light brown chest and arms with sharp claws on the end appeared on the field and looked back at Lizzie, expectantly awaiting orders (Level 4, Earth. Reptile. Atk/Def: 1400/1100.) "While Lion Alligator is on the field, my reptile monsters do piercing damage! Ancient Lizard Warrior, attack his Cat Shark!" just before the monster reached his Cat Shark, Silas activated his facedown card "Nice try, but I can do better! Trap activate; Gravity Bind, now monsters that are level 4 or higher cannot attack!"

a zone of gravity engulfed the field, forcing Ancient Lizard Warrior to withdraw its attack, lest it get crushed by the pressure. It looked at Lizzie with an apologetic look on its reptilian face. Lizzie smiled at her monster "you did fine, it's not your fault" she said, and could have sworn she saw its face turn a bit red but she thought she must have been imagining things and returned to the duel "I'll set another facedown card, then switch Ancient Lizard Warrior to defense position and end my turn." she internally cursed, realizing most of her monsters were level 4, and wouldn't work well in this situation.

Silas started his turn again "Draw! I'll summon Atlantean Dragoons in attack position" two more fish men appeared on the field wielding spears and riding some kind of sea dragons (Level 4, Water. Sea Serpent/Effect. Atk/Def: 1800/0) ' _He summoned another level 4 monster, but why? level 4 monsters can't- oh no, I think I know why..._ ' Silas continued his turn "I overlay my Armed Sea Hunter and my Atlantean Dragoons in order to build the Overlay Network. Xyz Summon, Bahamut Shark in attack position!" a dragon-like shark emerged from the vortex and let out a proud roar (Rank 4, Water. Sea Serpent/Xyz/Effect. Atk/Def: 2600/2100.)

 _'_ This is bad, Xyz monsters don't have levels, so he can attack me still, and I still don't know what that Cat Shark card can do.' Lizzie thought as Silas' turn kept going "Cat Shark activates its effect now, by removing one overlay unit, my Bahamut Shark's attack and defense points are doubled this turn. It's over! Bahamut Shark, attack her Lion Alligator!"

Bahamut Shark launched itself at the alligator but just when it was destroyed, Lizzie activated two of her facedown cards "Traps activate; Damage Diet and Snake Whistle! This turn, all damage I take is halved and with Snake whistle I can summon Gentlemander from my deck!" her Points decreased and her monster appeared in defense position (-700= 1300 Life Points) Silas scowled at that and continued his turn, much to Lizzie's surprise

"That does it! I said I wouldn't hold back and I *will* keep my word! I rebuild the Overlay Network using my Bahamut Shark. Xyz Evolution!" Lizzie was getting more and more surprised with this guy with each turn, he can evolve his Xyz Monsters too!? what will the new monster be? a circle began drawing itself on the field, as Silas spoke "Mystic Circle of the Ancients, I summon you in all your terrifying glory. The bane of kings, Number P86: Seal of Rejection, in defense position!"

This monster resembled an arcane circle brimming with eldritch energy. An outline of somebody bound by chains appears inside the seal. The reddish brown number 86 is located on the outlined figure's left chest, where the person's heart would be (Rank 1, Earth. Fiend/Xyz/Effect. Atk/Def: 250/300.) ' _A Parallel Number, here!? This is bad, I heard about how powerful Number cards can be from Yugi, and he in turn heard of them from his Number. This may not turn out so well..._ '

Silas ended his turn and let Lizzie make her move "Draw! I overlay my Gentlemander and my Ancient Lizard Warrior in order to build the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon, King of the Feral Imps in attack position!" an oversized imp appeared, along with smaller imps serving as attendants (Rank 4, Dark. Reptile/Xyz/Effect. Atk/Def: 2300/2000.) ' _I have to be careful, I don't know what that Number can do yet, so I should try to bolster my forces for now_ '

"I activate King of the Feral Imps effect, by removing one overlay unit, I can add one reptile monster from my deck to my hand." before she could do so however, Silas used his Number's effect "I activate my Seal of Rejection's special ability, by using one overlay unit, I can target a monster that activates its monster effect, then negate and destroy it, then you take damage equal to half its attack! Rebound of Chains!" Seal of Rejection released its chains, piercing through the monster and interrupting its effect simultaneously, and Lizzie took damage but not before activated her other facedown and another card effect

"Traps activate, by banishing my Damage Diet card from the graveyard, all effect damage I take is halved, and my second Snake Whistle allows me to summon another Lion Alligator- Aghh!" she felt a sharp pain in her chest when she lost life points (-1150= 150 life points) Lizzie was gasping for breath for awhile ' _What was that!? That felt real, is this what the Numbers are capable of? What's worse is that card can negate and destroy my monsters while dealing damage, I need to think..._ '

She lost her train of thought when she saw a very disturbing sight. The outlined humanlike shape within the Seal of Rejection began to take on a clearer form, Lizzie's form. She suddenly started to feel a wave of crushing despair, and from a white void began seeing images of her parents' broken forms and Solomon Mutou's soulless body being carried away to an ambulance ' _Why am I even here? I can't even beat Draco or Yugi in a single duel, what use am I here? I can't..._ ' she was snapped out of her depressed thoughts by somebody's voice

" _ **Lizzie, snap out of it! Would your parents wish for you to act this way!?**_ " she blinked for a moment, then looked around for the speaker, but couldn't find anyone. Was she imagining things? Then the voice returned, speaking in a soft melodic tone " _ **Remember your promise to your family and friends, to Draco. Remember your resolve when you saw those images, don't let the Number's influence take hold!**_ "

' _The... Number...?_ ' She recalled Number P86: Seal of Rejection taking her shape, and the look of anguish on the familiar form's face, then remembered the promises she made to her to her late parents and her friends respectively.

* * *

Flashback, Lizzie's POV

* * *

My parents were leaving for their next trip to Egypt, their last expedition they would ever take. I was six years old at the time, so my memory of it was pretty blurry, but now that I'm here in this place, I can remember it as though it were yesterday. Mom always had that kind of smile that would soften the hearts of anyone she came across on her travels, and she was one of the best artists I ever knew.

"Lizzie, we're going for now, hold the fort for us, ok?" Mom said with her usual smile, while Dad was at the door speaking with Uncle Innes in a whispered tone that neither Mom or I could hear.

Dad was a renowned archeologist, rivaled by few besides Mom, he was brave and clever, but was hilariously klutzy. He was very good at what he did, and often brought home some oddities from his trips home for me. Dad finished talking to Uncle Innes, then he and Mom prepared to leave, but I ran over to Dad and tightly hugged his leg "Daddy, please stay for awhile longer, I'm scared..."

Dad laughed a little, then kneeled over so as to reach my level, then he got something out of his bag "Lizzie, there's no need to be afraid, you have your uncle here to protect you, but in case he isn't enough, I want you to have this" it was a silver ring inlaid with a lapis lazuli, with intricate carvings across the ring's surface. Next to Mom, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

He tied a long string around it and put it around my neck like a necklace "I want you to carry this with you at all times, and promise me you won't lose your strong and loving heart. And remember to stay strong when there are tough times, can you do that for us?" I nodded my head happily in agreement, then my parents left for the last time they were alive.

* * *

End of Flashback, Normal POV

* * *

' _I didn't quite understand what my dad meant because I was so young, but I think I know now. This is one of those tough times he mentioned_ ' Lizzie rummaged through her pockets and pulled out the ring her father gave her, then he remembered the promise she made to Yugi and her other friends to rescue Grandpa Mutou. ' _Whoever you are, you're right, too many people are counting on me for me to give up now!_ '

the voice returned, the songlike tone ever-present " ** _You finally remember! That's good, now is the time to make true of your promise. I will return you to your world now._** " Lizzie stepped toward the voice "Wait a minute, who-"

Lizzie's eyes shot open, and she was back at the duel field, her father's ring still in her hands ' _That's right, I was dueling Silas, and I must have whited out. But why am I holding my dad's ring, was that place real?_ ' she shook her head and Silas woke up again from his unceremoniously timed nap "Well, are you done with your turn or are you going to keep staring? You have two turns before I can declare an attack due to Seal of Rejection's effect, so you should be safe from normal attacks at least."

Lizzie was still aching from the Number's effect, but she seemed to feel a little better. She put her ring back in her pocket and continued the duel "I'll set one monster facedown and end my turn."

Silas began his next turn "My move, draw! I summon Atlantean Pikeman in attack position, then set a facedown card and end my turn, that's one turn down." Lizzie drew a card, then hoped for the best "I summon Gagagigo in attack position and flip face-up my Reptillianne Gardna. I overlay my three monsters in order to build the Overlay Network. Xyz Summon, Gagagigo the Risen in attack position!" an evolved version of Gagagigo appeared on the field, complete with cybernetic pieces of armor (Rank 4, Water. Reptile/Xyz. Atk/Def: 2950/2800.)

Lizzie continued "Xyz Monsters have ranks and not levels, so Gagagigo the Risen can attack your Pikeman!" Gagagigo the Risen struck the Atlantean, but the damage was reduced because Silas used Cat Shark's last overlay unit to increase its attack to 2800 (-150= 1850 Life Points) "that ends my turn."

Silas drew his card "That's the second turn, but I seemed to have a bad draw this time, so it's your turn again. Lizzie drew her next card "I'll play the spell card, Pot of Greed to draw two new cards!" she drew said cards then continued her turn "This is it, win or lose, this duel is over. I summon Terrene Toothed Tsuchinoko in attack position, then play the Spell Card, Attack Pheromones!"

Silas looked shocked this time, and Lizzie was loving it "You.. so that's your plan... well then, lets end this then!" Lizzie prepared to finish this duel in this one turn "Terrene Toothed Tsuchinoko, attack his Seal of Rejection!" the snakelike creature reluctantly bit into the fake Lizzie within the arcane circle, but it wasn't destroyed when Silas explained "I guess I didn't mention this, as long as Seal of Suppression has overlay units, it can't be destroyed in battle."

Lizzie grinned deviously "I know, a Number card with that low of attack and defense would need a reasonably protective effect like that to keep it at large, that's why I used Attack Pheromones, it forces any monster on your field that was attacked by a reptile but not destroyed to switch to attack position." the chains that connected to the Fake Lizzie reared up like snakes ready to strike as a sign it was on the offensive "Gagagigo the Risen, finish this! Attack Number P86: Seal of Rejection!"

When the attack struck the Number, Silas spoke to Lizzie as his Life Points hit zero "Well played, you pass my test." Lizzie walked over to Silas, wondering what he meant until he handed her a card "Take it, you've as good as earned it. Just remember the risks of using a card like this and you'll be fine. Here's your Star Chip, and good luck with the tournament!" Lizzie looked at the card, it was Number P86: Seal of Rejection, then looked up at Silas-

But he was already gone ' _What just happened?_ ' Lizzie wondered, then shrugged it off and put the Parallel Number in her Extra Deck before continuing her search for Draco.

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

Yugi was having trouble with his duel with Weevil for quite awhile, but things seemed to be turning around. On Weevil's side of the field was his Great Moth, soaked and weakened by Makiu the Magical Mist, and on his side of the field he had three level 4 monsters "Weevil, you may have thrown away my Grandpa's Exodia cards, but I have one more card that is almost as powerful"

Weevil laughed at this, he had destroyed all of Yugi's strongest monsters, including his Summoned Skull he summoned earlier, thinking it impossible that Yugi had anything left "I know you're bluffing Yugi, face it, you might have weakened my Great Moth, but there's still nothing left in your deck that can stop it!" he kept laughing like a maniac until Yugi spoke up again, and what he said next shut him up for sure

"You did destroy all the best monsters in my deck, but you forgot my Extra Deck still has a monster within. Behold! I overlay my three monsters in order to build the Overlay Network! I Xyz Summon!" Weevil started to panic "What's Xyz Summoning? What is happening!?" Yugi continued "Magician from the deepest corners of the mind, I beseech you to grant me the knowledge to end this Duel! Come forth, Number P37: Mind Shadow Magician!" the Number appeared, and Weevil let out a terrified squeak

Yugi finished the duel saying "Mind Shadow Magician can attack while in defense position, now, Dark Mind Collapse!" with Great Moth defeated and Weevil a gibbering wreck, Yugi took his Star Chip, and Joey "Confiscated" his Duel Glove, then the group set out to look for Lizzie and Draco.

Meanwhile, a white robed woman was watching Lizzie from a distance "So this is the one Byakuya briefed me about. let's see if she really can become as good as the Great Sage told us.

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

 **A/N: I'm back, sorry it took so long to post this chapter and sorry if Lizzie's flashback and ring keepsake were at all cheesy, I found it worked well with what I have planned. On the note of taking so long, I was in a funk due to the new ruleset coming in September, causing all decks that mass-summon extra deck monsters requiring Link Monsters to maintain such playstyles, but I feel a little better now because I made up my own ruleset that will be implemented in this fanfiction's sequel. Thanks for reading. Duel Standby.**


	10. Chapter 9, Milling Tactics

**A/N: Welcome back to YGO-DD, in this chapter, one of the main characters from one of my planned fanfictions will make an appearance, and Lizzie will continue to have troubles with her self confidence for a little longer yet. This chapter takes place sometime between episodes four and five, along with the next chapter. Time for the Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs, only my OCs and other custom content. It's time to Duel!**

* * *

Chapter 9, Milling Tactics

* * *

Lizzie roamed the beach before heading towards an area with lush grassland to search for Draco. she looked around for awhile when she noticed something weird, there were no duelists in sight yet there were clear signs of duelists having been here. Worried, she looked for the duelists who apparently aren't there when she reached an active duel field. On it was a man in his early twenties dueling a woman in a white, hooded robe, but apparently the duel was already over "Is that all? that's all you could manage to do in a duel with me?"

the man was shaken and as the robed lady approached him he scrambled as far from her as possible "No, s-stay away from me! Somebody heeelp!" he ran away in the blink of an eye and the lady sighed angrily then shouted "Go ahead, get out of my sight!" then muttered "You aren't worth my time..." before looking towards Lizzie "Well look who showed up, I was waiting for you to show up, but all I found were a bunch of weaklings who were all talk and no duel skills." Lizzie met the woman's stare with one of her own, not sure what to make of this person.

"Where did all the duelists go? I haven't seen any besides you and that one guy that ran off, have you seen any with teal hair around here?" the stranger snorted and said "I haven't seen anyone fitting that description, and as for your other question, those "duelists" were all a bunch of stinking braggarts with no actual dueling potential, so I beat all of them and they ran away with their tails between their legs. So tell me, are you a good duelist or are you just another wannabe duelist whose being here is just a fluke?"

Lizzie was surprised that this person could defeat all the duelists in the area so badly that they ran away frightened of her. She spoke to the other woman with an even tone "I'm decent, I guess. But I still have a long way to go, why do you ask?" the robed woman took out a Duel Monsters deck and said "In that case, I think I'll test your dueling skills right here and now. I just hope this isn't a waste of my time..."

Lizzie got out her deck and shuffled it "um, you didn't give me your name did you? I'm Lizzie Calhoun, what about you?" there was a long silence, and just when Lizzie was about to give up on getting an answer the woman across from her said "Mari. My name is Mari, and I believe it's time to duel!"

Mari took the first move "I set a facedown card and one monster facedown and end my turn" Lizzie wondered what kind of monster was set and drew her card "I summon Gagagigo in attack position, then have him attack your facedown monster!" the card flipped face up, revealing the monster before it was destroyed. She looked like a human woman with mechanical wings and taloned feet. She had light coppery hair and a hawk-like golden right eye. Cybernetics could be found on her right leg and where her left eye would be in addition to her wings. (Level 4, Wind. Winged Beast/Effect. Atk/Def: 1400/1600.)

Mari took the time to explain her next move "You activated the effect of my monster, Mach-Avian, Kyoko the Slipstream. When she is flipped face up, both of us send the top two cards from our decks to the graveyard then we draw one card each!" Lizzie blinked, then sent the top two cards from her deck to the graveyard when Mari continued her move on Lizzie's turn

"when he is sent to the graveyard from the deck, I can special summon the Tuner Monster Mach-Avian, Koda the Ignition to the field, then I can special summon another Mach-Avian monster from my graveyard as well, then Synchro Summon with them. Return, Kyoko the Slipstream!" Koda resembled a half-mechanized sparrow with jets attached to his wings and flight goggles on his eyes. Now that Lizzie looked at his eyes closely enough, she could see binary data running across them. (Level 2, Wind. Winged Beast/Tuner/Effect. Atk/Def: 1000/2000.)

Lizzie's eyes widened ' _She has Synchro Monsters! But how? I thought only the Chance Cup finalists had them? Then again, that Silas guy had Xyz monsters, so it's possible the also are beta testing them. still, something's not right..._ ' Mari resumed her move "By paying 500 life points, I can change a Mach monster's level by one, so I'll change Kyoko to level 3. now, level 2 Koda the Ignition, tune level 3 Kyoko the Slipstream!" (-500= 1500 Life Points.)

Koda turned into two rings of light that Kyoko passed through "Servant of the Divine Wind, unleash your fury upon those who would threaten the Sky Server. Synchro Summon! The fierce cyber warrior of the skies: Assault Mach-Avian, Bantori the Berserker Wing!(Level 5, Wind, Winged Beast/Synchro/Effect. Atk/Def: 2400/400.)

"Bantori's effect activates, both players send the top two cards from their decks to the graveyard." mildly annoyed, Lizzie sent Fissure and Block Attack to the graveyard while Mari sent a spell and a trap to the graveyard. Lizzie finished her turn with a facedown card, then Mari started her turn "I set a card and one monster facedown then have Bantori attack your Gagagigo." but before the cyborg could harm the reptilian monster, Lizzie activated her facedown

"Activate Quick-Play Spell, Forbidden Dress! your Berserker Wing loses 600 attack points and cannot be targeted or destroyed by other card effects this turn, sorry but your monster is down for the count!" Gagagigo countered Bantori's attack and destroyed him, dealing minor damage to Mari's life points (-50= 1450 life points.), right eye twitching with annoyance, Mari ended her turn. Lizzie on the other hand was laughing at the fact she just forced a bird man into crossdressing to his demise.

After she was done laughing, Lizzie started her turn "I equip the Spell Card Black Pendant to Gagagigo, increasing his attack by 500 points. Gagagigo, attack Mari's Facedown card!" the monster that was revealed was a beautiful humanlike being with four blue feathered wings on her back, and a mechanical right arm equipped with a phase gun. She had snowy colored hair and ice blue eyes, and had taloned feet like the rest of her kind.

"Mach-Avian, Aurora the Northern Light's effect activates, when she is flipped face up, both players send the top three cards of their decks to the graveyard, then all monsters on the field are switched to face up defense position." Lizzie cursed under her breath as her Des Volstgalph, Cobraman Sakuzy and the Secret of the Bandit were sent to the graveyard ' _Why is she going to all this trouble to send our cards from the deck to the graveyard? I can understand her cards, but why mine? Does she get some kind of benefit from this?_ '

but Mari wasn't done yet "I activate the effects of Mach-Avian, Kaze the Sky Server and Mach-Avian Hiera the Reload Spirit , when Kaze is sent from the deck to the graveyard, I can special summon him in either face up position or in this case in facedown defense position and draw a card at the cost of one card in my hand, then Hiera's effect activates, when she is sent to the graveyard from the deck, I can special summon her, then shuffle five cards in my graveyard back into my deck" she shuffled five of her graveyard cards back into the deck as she said and a new monster appeared.

Hiera was different from the rest of her species in that she looked more like an anthropomorphic hawk with organic wings. She carried around the Scepter of Life with her at all times. She had golden feathers and hair and blue eyes. (Level 1, Wind. Winged Beast/Effect. Atk/Def: 300/200.) Hiera took a defensive stance, guarding herself with her scepter.

Lizzie looked through her hand "I summon Terrene Toothed Tsuchinoko in attack position and end my turn." Mari looked a little bored when she started her turn "I flip Kaze the Sky Server face up to attack position, activating his effect" a large shadow engulfed the duel field, but strangely nowhere else. Lizzie looked around for the monster but found nothing. Nothing until she looked up, that is. Above her was a massive wing flying on its own, with the top of said wing being covered in trees and machinery (Level  
8, Wind, Winged Beast/Effect/Tuner. Atk/Def: 100/3000.).

From her side of the dueling field Mari laughed loudly "What do you think, girl? Kaze is so big that he rarely shows up completely on a duel field, he is literally the homeland of the Mach-Avian archetype monsters, and now his effect activates, both of us send the top five cards from our decks to the graveyard, then I can special summon up to three Mach monsters from my hand and/or deck facedown!" three monsters were set facedown on Mari's side of the field and she set a facedown card then ended her turn.

Lizzie was still wondering why Mari kept sending both of their cards from the deck to the graveyard until she remembered a card tactic used in another card game back in her dimension. The idea was to force the opponent to discard all of the cards in their deck so that they would have no cards left to use and... her eyes widened "She plans to make me lose by running out of cards in my deck, dang it!" she whispered to herself then started her turn

"My turn, Draw!" no good, she drew Magic Cylinder, but that would only work well if Mari decided to attack her monsters, which she really only did once. "I switch Gagagigo to attack position, then summon Gentlemander in attack position" the pink salamander showed up on the field, but wouldn't be there for long "I overlay my Gentlemander and my Gagagigo in order to build the Overlay Network. Xyz Summon, King of the Feral Imps in attack position!" the imp king manifested, but Mari wasn't impressed, instead she seemed pretty insulted

"You wasted your two monsters for *that*!? You are aware that its effect will only hasten your demise, right? But by all means, use it and end this duel quickly for me. You're just wasting my time!" that did it, Lizzie got so angry that a dark aura radiated from her body and one of her Extra Deck cards shared the same aura with her "I have HAD IT with you, you witch, I'm going to make you pay for your arrogance! I rebuild the Overlay Network using my King of the Feral Imps. Xyz Evolution!" she howled in pain as the Number Card rejected her and tore at her free will ' **Yes, Lizzie, let the Number take hold!** ' when she was done, she said "Mystic Circle of the Ancients, I summon you in all your terrifying glory. The bane of kings, Number P86: Seal of Rejection, in defense position!"

the eldritch circle and outlined figure within it appeared on the field, and the reddish brown number 86 materialized on her left chest where her heart would be. Mari's eyes widened "She has a Number Card, and it has rejected her. I'd better finish this quickly, then." Lizzie set two facedown cards and ended her turn. For the first time since the two of them met today, Mari began to show genuine concern for her opponent ' _It's just like when **he** fell under the influence of one of his cards. Let's hope I can free this girl the same way..._ ' Mari thought grimly then started her turn

"I flip face up Kyoko the Slipstream, activating her effect-" Lizzie laughed madly then stated "Seal of Rejection's effect activates! By removing one overlay unit, I can negate you monster's effect and destroy it, dealing half its attack points to you as damage! Rebound of Chains!" the chains pierced through Kyoko, preventing her from using her effect, then destroying her." Mari clutched her chest as her life points were reduced ' _So it does real damage to it's opponents, all the more reason to tread lightly fighting it. She can't control it..._ ' (- 700= 750 life points)

"I flip Face up Hiera the Reload Spirit and activate her effect, by tributing her I can-" she was interrupted again as Lizzie activated Seal of Rejection's effect again, destroying Hiera and dealing damage before her effect could be used (-150= 600 life points). Lizzie was panting from exhaustion, apparently the Number could only be used twice before its powers ceased functioning for the turn.

Frustrated with Lizzie's interruptions, Mari played a deadly combo "From my hand, I play the spell Book of Moon to flip my Sky Server facedown, then I flip face up Aurora the Northern Light and activate her effect, sending the top three cards from our decks to the graveyard to change all facedown monsters to face up defense position and activate their effects, Kaze sends five more cards from our decks to the graveyard and I special summon three more Mach monsters in facedown defense position" three more monsters appeared as Lizzie was reduced to 18 cards in her main deck.

Mari, absolutely livid with the girl on the other side of the duel field, continued her combo "I play my second Book of Moon, flipping Kaze the Sky Server facedown again. Then I use another Book of Taiyou to flip my second Aurora the Northern Light face up, activating her effect again, milling 3 more cards and flipping all facedown cards face up. the monsters this time are Kyoko the Slipstream, Hiera the Reload Spirit, my Sky Server and Aurora the Northern Light, that's 9 more cards milled and one added to your hand." Lizzie was staring in dismay as her deck was losing cards before her eyes, but Mari still wasn't done

"Time to end this madness! I activate my three facedown traps, all three are the Gift of Greed, reducing your deck to nothing. It's over, you've lost." as the duel field shut down, Yugi and friends caught up with her with Draco in tow and the aura coating Lizzie dispersed, Lizzie stared in shock. She'd lost, and not just the duel either. She lost control of herself using the Parallel Number, she lost sight of her purpose for being here, and just as bad if not worse than the others, she lost her self confidence. "What have I done?" she whispered to herself.

Mari didn't even bother to take Lizzie's Star Chips, she just didn't care about this tournament, just about finding powerful duelists, and Lizzie just wasn't ready to duel people like her. Yugi ran over to Lizzie and shouted "Lizzie, are you alright? What happened?" no response. He tried again "uh, Lizzie, are you listening? I was asking if you were all right. Could you please answer me?" still nothing, she was still in shock from what she had done.

Yugi turned his head towards everyone "I don't understand, she's not reacting to anything I say. it's like she isn't even there, what's going on!?" he said in a very worried tone of voice. Draco looked at Lizzie, then Yugi, then Lizzie again, then he strode past Yugi to Lizzie and did something he had never done up until now. He raised his hand and slapped Lizzie across the face.

Everyone looked at him with looks of dismay, they had never seen Draco do something like that in the entire time they'd known him, and while it snapped Lizzie out of her state of shock, nobody would ever forget the look of anger on the teal-haired duelist's face. Lizzie rubbed her cheek with her hands and shouted "Draco! What was that for!?" Draco glared at Lizzie, not at all phased by Lizzie's reaction "You are acting like a child, no worse than a child Lizzie. I saw what happened, you used a Number and it rejected you. you're lucky nobody got badly injured, or worse!" Lizzie looked down at her feet "Yeah, I've been a complete fool. I'm not sure I can even will myself to duel anymore after that. I hurt her Draco, I could have done even worse than that! I could have-"

Draco cut her off "That attitude is the problem I'm talking about, the Number Card is only part of the problem! I won't watch as you give up on the best chance to get you back home, even if I have to drag you to every duel you are challenged to!" she looked at him with wide eyes "What are you going to do then?" she asked Draco's eyes softened "The only thing I know can fix your self confidence. I am going to duel you to return you to your normal self!

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

 **A/N: There's another chapter for you. Draco has challenged a reluctant Lizzie to a duel, how will this turn out in the end? Find out in the next chapter. Also you can expect things to get a bit more chaotic with the characters now due to the increasing troubles they have to go through. Next chapter is the last of the chapters that Lizzie will be haunted by her injured self confidence, most likely, so don't expect her to be like that throughout the entire series.**

 **And now for the first issue of Archetypes Unleashed, in this part it tells a brief description about one archetype, for example: Mach-Avian Archetype, a group of winged beast monsters that specialize in swarming tactics and milling through both players' decks to benefit from both milled decks. Weaknesses include graveyard lockdown, special summon lockdown and anti-effect cards. Signature cards include Assault Mach-Avian, Fujin the Divine Wind and Assault Mach-Avian, Kite the Freefall.**

 **The little piece of information up there is only to inform readers how the archetype works in general, nothing more. That's all for now. Duel Standby**


	11. Chapter 10, Awaken, Cyan Knight Shenlong

**A/N: another chapter of Dimensional Duels. I sincerely hope those who have read this story are enjoying it for some reason or another, it's good for my inspirational muse, so to speak and positive and preferably relevant feedback helps me write too. Anyway, this chapter revolves around a Duel between Lizzie and Draco with comments from the sidelines all too likely. On with the disclaimer. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs, otherwise I would have had somebody other than 4kids run the dubbed versions. It's time to Duel!**

* * *

 **Chapter 10, Duel of the Heart, Awaken Cyan Knight Shenlong**

* * *

Lizzie followed Draco back to the duel field, but on the way she tripped over a rock and fell down. When she lifted her face from its comfy bed of dirt, she found a card laying on the ground in front of her. It was the good luck charm that Maki gave her. She picked it up and looked at it, but it was totally blank like before, no statistics or anything but for some reason she couldn't place, she put it in her Extra Deck box. Draco was already at the duel field, looking at her uneasily for heavens know why. ' _Was it because of when he slapped me earlier? I mean sure it was rude, but I totally deserved that so I don't think he should feel that way towards me for that._ '

when she reached the dueling platform, she hesitated ' _What if I lose control again? I don't want to risk hurting Draco, I would never forgive myself if that happened..._ ' she shook her head hard ' _No, Draco is doing this for my sake, it might hurt him even more if I *don't* duel him. Well, here goes nothing._ ' she stepped onto the duel field then looked at Draco, who let out a small smile upon seeing her up here with him

"You know," he began "It's been awhile since we dueled seriously, I'm kind of happy to be up here w-" he paused, his face turning slightly red, then corrected himself "happy to be up here dueling you." Lizzie found this kind of strange, ' _why would he be so nervous about being up here with me? I'm the one who's been traumatized twice in the same day, what's up with him?_ ' she thought, confused before the duel started in earnest.

Draco went first " I'll start by summoning Lancer Lindwurm in attack position and throwing two facedown cards on the field, that's all for now. You're up Liz! Lizzie was still disoriented from her duel with Mari but she told herself to do what she could "I-I summon Cobraman Sakuzy in defense position then set a facedown. Your turn.

On the sidelines Joey asked Yugi "What is Lizzie doing? she did much better than this against me during our training sessions, what happened to her anyway?" Yugi answered honestly "It seems that her last duel left her confidence in herself injured, so her judgement isn't at its best right now." Téa had a sad expression on her face "This isn't like Lizzie at all, she's usually upbeat and full of life when she duels, I wish there was something I could do to help."

Yugi turned to Téa "The best we can do is watch for now and have faith that Draco will get through to her, he is the closest person to her out of all of us after all!" Téa nodded in agreement as the duel continued with Draco's turn "I'll set another facedown card, then summon Blade Knight in attack position" the knight arrived on the field, sword drawn (Level 4, Light. Warrior/Effect.) ' _I have to keep this duel going until Lizzie can realize why dueling is so important to her, she can't keep going like this and breaking down every time something bad happens._ ' Draco thought before entering the Battle Phase

"Battle! Lancer Lindwurm, attack her Cobraman Sakuzy!" the dragon lancer stabbed through Sakuzy's defenses destroying it "When Lindwurm battles a monster with lower defense points than its attack points, it does piercing damage!" Lizzie's life points dropped, and Draco kept talking to her (-400= 1600 life points) "Come on, Lizzie. I know you can duel better than that! where's your resolve and passion for dueling? Show me the real you, not this empty shell of a duelist!" he slapped another facedown on the field then ended his turn.

Lizzie glared at Draco "What are you talking about? I'm the same as I was before! I summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4 in attack position" a very much birdlike dragon appeared on the field, letting out a mournful cry at what Draco knew was for Horus' card bearer (Level 4, Fire. Dragon/Effect. Atk/Def: 1600/1000.) Lizzie forced herself to make a move "Horus, attack his Blade Knight!" the dragon attacked with his fire breath

"What is she thinking? She'll just destroy both of their monsters then leave herself wide open for attack..." Joey wondered until Lizzie played another card just before the two monsters attacks made contact "I activate the Quick-Play Spell Forbidden Dress, with this, your knight will lose 600 attack points, leaving Horus the victor." Blade Knight was overcome by the flames and was sent to the graveyard (-600= 1400.) "I'll end my turn, but not before Horus gets a growth spurt, upgrading to level 6!" Horus became larger and gained some more draconic traits than before (Level 6, Fire. Dragon/Effect. Atk/Def: 2300/1600.)"

Draco started his turn immediately "You just don't get it do you? I activate the trap card Jar of Greed to draw an extra card. Next, I summon the Marauding Captain in attack position and activate his effect, which allows me to summon a level 4 or lower monster from my hand. Come forth, Shine Knight." the Marauding captain had blond hair and blue eyes. He stood before Lizzie proudly in his armor, cape flowing in the wind and twin swords in hand (Level 3, Earth. Warrior/Effect. Atk/Def: 1200/400.) "In response to Marauding Captain's summoning I activate Copy Knight to become a monster of the same level as him"

Lizzie was puzzled by the words he spoke of during the duel ' _the resolve part is obvious, but the real me? How exactly am I an empty shell? I'm still here aren't I?!_ ' when she voiced her thoughts, Draco shook his head "You'll see what I mean, even if I have to pound it into your head repeatedly, now..." he was interrupted when something glowed from within his deck box. He took out the Blank Number Card and found himself somewhere else.

He was at the cliffside cabin he and Caleb trained with their mentor at. He felt a strong spiritual energy coming from within the cabin and followed it, finding a cloaked figure whose identity was currently unknown "You have arrived, now I can take shape too!" the figure blurred and became two different forms instead of one. the first had messy brown hair, green eyes and wears brilliant white armor. He wielded two swords called Pendragon and Durendal apparently. His Number Symbol was located on his left shoulder-piece. The second was a knight whose body could only be seen as a blur of clear energy that was vaguely human-shaped, he wielded the sword Nox in his left hand and the Dagger of Distortion in his right. His Number Symbol is located on his sword Nox.

Draco was a bit surprised at this, never had a Number Card become two separate cards instead of one, with the exception of Shining Numbers and Chaos Numbers. Noticing that their Number Holder was at a loss for words, the knight wearing white armor spoke first "I am Number P13: Galahad the White Knight, and I am the card the girl Maki gave you." Draco blinked and looked in the direction he thought the other monster was "What about him? Is he a Number too?" the invisible monster made a grumpy noise but nothing else, so Galahad decided to speak for him "that's Number P31: Garland the Invisible Knight, I've fought against him for ages but it seems he's decided to join your quest too..."

Garland made no response. Galahad leaned over to Draco's ear and whispered "Turns out he's very shy, though I can't say why." if Garland could be seen, he would be giving the White Knight a death glare. Draco said "o-k, so are we going to return to the duel or not? I have to get Lizzie back to her normal self as soon as possible!" the two Numbers looked at each other then back to Draco "As you wish, Sir Draco" then Draco was back at the duel field

Lizzie was waiting nervously when Draco continued his turn "You fail to realize something, your monsters aren't just holograms, they have hearts souls like you and I do. Look at your dragon, can't you see how it hurts him seeing you as you are now?! Listen to your cards voices, you can hear them if you'd just listen!" Lizzie was taken aback by the mixed emotions and the meaning of his words. She closed her eyes ' _That's right... the monsters in my deck aren't just cards, they're living entities that feel like I do and I've ignored them... but not anymore!_ '

She tried communicating with Horus the Black Flame Dragon first, and it responded " _I have sworn myself to your service, as have the other monsters in this deck, would you give up and let us all down?_ " she inwardly agreed with Horus words then began listening to the cards in her hand " _We are connected to you and always have been, what makes you think you can sever that bond with us so easily?_ " Ancient Lizard Warrior said in her mind with a smug tone in his voice, then she finally got to Gagagigo, Draco's Contract Card " _Do you understand now? You don't have to do everything alone Lass, you have all of us supporting you, and we just want you to return to the way you should be._ "

Lizzie teared up a bit then heard Draco's voice within her mind again " _Now answer me this: Can you duel for what you believe in, regardless of the outcome?_ " when Lizzie opened her eyes, they were filled with determination, and this time nothing would ever shatter her resolve again "I can. Draco, It's time to duel!" Draco grinned and replied "Well said, but let's put your renewed resolve to the test first!"

a galaxy shaped vortex appeared one the field "I overlay my Marauding Captain, my Shine Knight and my Copy Knight in order to build the Overlay Network." the form of a Sealed Number appeared and began shaping itself, shocking Lizzie and their spectating friends that he had a Number as well "Final knight of the great kingdom, I summon you to aid my quest for the truth. Xyz Summon. Knight of the Thirteenth Seat, Number P13: Galahad the White Knight!" Galahad emerged from the vortex and unsheathed his swords (Rank 3, Light. Warrior/Xyz/Effect. Atk/Def: 2500/2100.)

Draco spoke to Lizzie as he continued his turn "let's see how you deal with my Number. Galahad, activate your effect, by removing one overlay unit then selecting one monster on the field, I can gain life points equal to half its attack or defense points, whichever is higher, and I choose Galahad. Pendragon's Boon!" Galahad raised his sword Pendragon to the sky and energy shot from his body, granting life to Draco (+1250 = 2650 life points) "I'll end my turn there, it's your move."

Lizzie drew her card, then heard the voice of an unfamiliar Duel Spirit " _Use me, let me take my true form..._ " the voice came from her extra deck box. she looked inside, it was her blank card. When she touched it, it began to take a new shape, she grinned widely at this ' _this... will be... EPIC!_ ' she stated "I summon Gagagigo in attack position!" Draco felt more than a little weird seeing his own body preparing to fight him but it turns out that Lizzie wasn't done

"Next I play the spell card Double Summon, which grants me another normal summon. Come on out, Ancient Lizard Warrior" the green scaled reptile arrived with a confident look in his eyes "I overlay my Ancient Lizard Warrior and my Gagagigo in order to build the Overlay Network!" Draco waited patiently for the summon to be completed "Dragon knight of the East, I summon you to bring forth a new age of hope. Xyz Summon. The guardian of sea and sky, Number P71: Cyan D. Knight Shenlong in attack position!"

Shenlong resembled a bipedal, human-sized, light blue armored dragon with antler-like protrusions coming from its helmet. It had piercing green eyes. It carried a rune covered katana named Yukiryu on its back, but rarely used it, using its fists to fight instead. Its number was located on the right shoulder piece, colored white. Draco whistled upon seeing Lizzie's Number Card, then said "Well then let's see whose Number is stronger!" Lizzie reacted by saying "With pleasure! I'll set one card facedown and play the Spell Back-Up Rider on Shenlong, increasing his attack by 1500."

Yugi was watching with interest "Looks like Lizzie is back to the way she was before. No, that's not right, she's better than ever!" he said happily while Joey and Tristan had their eyes glued on the Number Battle. Lizzie continued her turn "Shenlong attack Number P13: Galahad the White Knight!", Yukiryu Unbound! By removing one overlay unit, he gains attack points equal to the number of spells and traps on the field times 100, so he gains 200 more attack points! and due to Shenlong's Dynast Aura effect, your monster cannot activate his effect during this battle!"

Shenlong reached for his sword, suppressed the seal on its power, then blurred past its opponent, slowly sheathing Yukiryu as the enemy is sliced by his attack. 'Galahad never had the chance to activate his second effect, that's a shame, and it looks like Garland won't get a shot here. Oh well' Draco thought as Lizzie destroyed his Lancer Lindwurm with Horus, thus dropping Draco's life points to zero and ending the duel" Téa ran over to Lizzie's side of the duel field "You did it! You beat Draco in a duel, and you seem to be feeling better too!" Lizzie smiled and stated "Guys, It's good to be back!"

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

Elsewhere, Mari was in a temple of unknown origin when Koda the Ignition reported back to her "Interesting" she mused "It would seem she isn't a total waste of time after all, right Byakuya?" The man named Byakuya spoke up "Yes, she might be one of the ones we're looking for. But for now, we wait. We cannot do much without the Duel Disks being invented in that time period yet."

another of the white robed men complained "Man, I was hoping to have some fun with those duelists. How long do we have to wait? My Tengu monsters are getting bored too you know!" Byakuya said firmly "Not much longer, once Battle City Tournament starts, we can begin our next mission. With that the meeting was dismissed and everyone went their separate ways.

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

 **A/N: whew, that's the third chapter I've done this week, I'm on a roll here, huh. Who are the white robed men and what is their goal? That is for another story, but one thing is for sure, this series will continue! Lizzie's Parallel Number is one of the first ones I worked on, and Draco's two make at least minor references to the Arthurian Legends. Thank you for reading. Duel Standby...**


	12. Chapter 11, Wolf Girl of the Forest

**A/N: Another chapter of YGO-DD ready for reading. This one takes place before and during Yugi's duel with Mako, so there probably won't be a full duel scene with him either. This chapter will star Lizzie against another OC, although said OC doesn't have a custom archetype like Mari did. I hope you enjoy, no for the Disclaimer. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs, all content belongs to its respective owners.**

* * *

Chapter 11, Wolf Girl of the Forest

* * *

In the woodlands of Duelist Kingdom, a young woman was done with her hunt for food, having caught a buck for lunch and a couple of boars. ' _I'm going to eat well today, and so are the others._ ' as she was thinking about this, something stalked closer to her, readied itself and pounced at her! The youth turned around only to get hit full force by a silvery grey wolf.

But instead of struggling to break free from the pin it caught her in, she laughed heartily at the lupine mammal "Hahaha, didn't I tell you to wait back at the den? Oh well, I could use the help getting this back anyway." the wolf nodded its head and started dragging one of the boars with its mouth. When they got back to the den, they were greeted by the other members of the wolf's pack. She had quickly befriended these wolves when she arrived here, since they reminded her of the pack she left behind back home.

"You hungry, everyone? I brought enough to feed you for about a week, so eat up!" the wolves eagerly ate the deer together, but were sure to save one of the boars for her. One of the wolves, one whose fur had gone white with age, nudged the young woman with his nose then looked towards a deck box made of rough leather and two golden stars with a small whine.

She sighed "I know, Elder Giichi, I haven't forgotten. All those other humans and their incessant dueling has been disturbing your hunting grounds, the sooner this "contest" of theirs ends, the better it will be for the pack." she picked up the deck box and star chips and walked out of the den with one of the wolves trailing behind her; it was time to hunt again...

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

Joey was just finishing his first official duel, against Mai Valentine to be specific "Thousand Dragon, destroy her harpies!" the Harpy Lady Sisters who had been weakened by the Time Wizard's effect were scorched with flames and Mai's life points hit zero "How? How could I lose to such an amateur?" Mai said to herself sadly, then Joey spoke to her

"Hey, Mai" she looked up at him "I tried to tell you there's more to dueling than kicking the other guy's butt." she stared at him, a bit confused as he continued "If you want to be a real champion, you've gotta learn to care about someone, other than yourself." he turned his head in Yugi's direction "Isn't that right, Yugi?" Yugi nodded and began to look like his usual self, although only Lizzie and Draco seemed to notice this change for the time being due to their connections to the Spirit World.

Joey seemed pretty pleased with himself as the were walking through the forest, although his enthusiasm about his first official victory was getting pretty tiresome for the others, sans Lizzie who could understand the thrill of winning her first official duel from her time in the Chance Cup, and she just chuckled. Maki and Akane had caught up with the others earlier, but had missed the duel between Lizzie and Draco, much to Akane's disappointment.

Akane got over it quickly though, as she began telling a story about the time a bunch of rabid fanboys chased her through Domino City Park on the way home "and then, just when they thought they had me, they got caught in a net trap I set up for such an occasion! their reactions were priceless and- I-is that a quarter? Yes, yes it is and it's all mine!" Téa asked Lizzie "Is Akane always like this?" Lizzie spoke to Téa over her shoulder "Every single day, attention span of a squirrel."

Joey was complaining about how hungry dueling made him, while Tristan took the opportunity to show them his survival guide when Joey smelled fish and ran toward the ocean. Yugi, Tristan and Téa ran after him, while Draco looked at Lizzie and the other two girls "Aren't you going with them?" Akane shrugged her shoulders "Yeeeeah, I don't do water, I'm a terrible swimmer and am not too comfortable around bodies of water larger than a lake or swimming pool."

Lizzie was next to decline "Pass, the last time I went to the ocean I had to duel somebody with an army of fish men, and I *really* don't want a repeat of that, right Maki? Maki...?" Maki was shuddering violently, and her next words made it quite apparent why "Icky, creepy, never-blinking fishies... K-keep me away from there please, I don't want to be anywhere near fish." Draco blinked at that and was about to speak again when a silver furred wolf leapt out of the shrubbery and tackled Draco to the ground, then pulled his Star Chips from his Duel Glove.

"what? Hey, give those back, I need those!" Draco called as he frantically chased after the wolf. Lizzie sighed after noticing that the aspiring knight went in the wrong direction and wandered off "Akane, could you come with me to find that wolf? Maki, please find Draco and get him back here when you do, I need to get his Star Chips back before he gets disqualified by mistake." Maki went off in Draco's direction, and Akane began following the wolf's tracks.

When the tracks ended, they were in a small clearing where the wolf waited, sitting next to a strange young woman who looked to be a year older than Lizzie. She had a well-muscled body, wild dark brown hair and light blue eyes. She wore a patchwork outfit made of leaves, hides and furs and walked barefoot, a deck box attached to her clothes. "Well this wasn't what I was expecting" she said "I would have thought the bluehead would come chasing Kjull here, not you two. Where is that man anyway?"

Lizzie glared at her "Draco couldn't find his way through an empty meadow if he had a map, now give us back his Star Chips!" the other youth frowned at the two friends "Sorry, not going to happen. Do you two have any idea what your precious contest is doing to my pack's hunting grounds? I'm not giving these back, unless you can back your words up of course!" she took out her deck, indicating she wanted to duel

Lizzie took out her deck as well "If I win, I want Draco's Star Chips back, understand?" she hissed. the wild youth grinned "Fine, but if I win, I get to take your "Star Chips" as well, sound fair?" Lizzie didn't think it was really fair seeing as they weren't this girl's Star Chips to begin with, but agreed for Draco's sake, thus beginning a duel. When they got on the duel field, the teen introduced herself "My name is Lupe Demetria, and for the sake of the pack here, I will defeat every so-called duelist on this island!"

Lizzie wondered how long Lupe had been living here in the wild "I'm Lizzie, and I have to get my friend's Star Chips back and keep a promise I made to my other friend. I can't lose here with that at stake!" Lupe took the first turn "I'll start by summoning Silver Fang to the field in attack position, welcome to the pack." a white wolf appeared on the field, briefly reminding Lizzie of that one time she and Draco got stuck in a den of these Duel Spirits before Lupe set a facedown card and ended her turn.

Lizzie started her turn "I summon Ancient Lizard Warrior in attack position, then set three facedown monsters and end my turn." ' _Better to keep it safe this time, I can't afford any mistakes or Draco will be taking the next boat off the island!_ ' Lizzie thought, then made a plea to her deck's Duel Spirits to guide her through this duel. Lupe drew a card and let loose a feral grin "I play the Ritual Spell, Synthesis Spell. by tributing Silver Fang from my field, and Nin-Ken Dog from my hand, I can Ritual Summon!"

Lizzie braced herself for the worst "Ritual Summon, Lycanthrope!" a werewolf with wires attached to its chest appeared on the field, howling (Level 6, Earth. Beast Warrior/Ritual/Effect. Atk/Def: 2400/1800.) Lupe's eyes narrowed "Lycanthrope, attack her Lizard Warrior! activate trap, Shield Spear, Lycanthrope gains 400 attack and defense until the End Phase." Lizzie activated a card from her hand "When any of your monsters attacks, I can special summon Gentlemander from my hand, I'll do so in defense position. Also, you can't attack any monsters but him"

Akane chose now to cheer for her friend "Lizzie, don't worry. You can still win this!" then the werewolf pierced through Lizzie's monster with ease, but afterwards she grinned in response to Akane's support and used her facedown card "Activate trap, Snake Whistle! I can special summon a level 4 or lower reptile monster from my deck, come forth, Armored Lizard!" a blue scaled lizard appeared on the field and awaited orders (Level 4, Earth. Reptile. Atk/Def: 1500/1200.)

"You two ready?" she asked her two monsters, who gave her affirmative growls "I overlay my Ancient Lizard Warrior with my Armored Lizard in order to build the Overlay Network! Dragon knight of the East, I summon you to bring forth a new age of hope. Xyz Summon. The guardian of sea and sky, Number P71: Cyan D. Knight Shenlong!" the dragon knight's voice echoed in Lizzie's mind ' _What is your wish, my liege?_ ' Lizzie spoke "I equip Shenlong with Black Pendant, increasing his attack points by 500." the pendant landed around the Number's neck, increasing his strength (+500= 3000)

"Battle, Number P71; Shenlong, attack Lycanthrope with Yukiryu Unbound!" Shenlong drew his katana then blurred past his opponent, slowly sheathing Yukiryu as the enemy is sliced by its attack "Shenlong's attack increases by 100 for every spell or trap on the field, that means you take 1900 damage." Lupe growled as her favorite monster was destroyed "So you managed to defeat Lycanthrope, I still have stronger monsters, and I still have life points yet. This isn't over!" (-1900= 100 life points.)

Lizzie shut her eyes calmly "I beg to differ, by activating my Mystical Space Typhoon and using it to destroy Black Pendant, you take 500 more points of damage. How's that for a finish?" upon its destruction, shadowy energy shot from the pendant and struck Lupe, ending the duel (-500= 0) as soon as the duel field deactivated, Lizzie rushed over to where Lupe lay kneeling in defeat "Are you okay, Lupe? I'm sorry, but I need those Star Chips to finish the tournament..."

Lupe didn't move from where she was, her eyes hidden by her hair "You said you made a promise to a friend, what was it?" she asked. Lizzie was unsure about how much to say at first, but decided to tell the full truth. After the explanation, Lupe got up "I see, so you promised to help save the soul of your friend's grandfather. He's lucky to have a family and friends who care so much for him, I sometimes wish I could say the same."

Before Lizzie could ask anything further, she was handed four Star Chips "your friend wasn't the first person to fall victim to my trap, but the last duelist wasn't so fortunate and was taken off the island. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that duelist would want you to have these to help you fulfill your promise." she started walking away, waving her hand as a parting sign "farewell, and I wish your pack good luck in the tournament!"

Lizzie and Akane watched as Lupe faded into the woods "You know" Lizzie said "Lupe doesn't seem like a bad person after all, she just wanted to protect her wolf friends." she turned and left with Akane "All the more reason for us to win this tournament as soon as possible, Yugi isn't the only one suffering because of Pegasus anymore..." She wouldn't forgive Pegasus for screwing with other peoples' lives so callously.

Meanwhile, in the wasteland area of the island "Hello? anybody there? Yugi, Lizzie, anyone? Oh for the love of-" Draco was so frustrated that he didn't see the person in front of him "Hey, watch where you're going mate, you could've hurt somebody!" she said irritably in what Draco recognized as an Australian accent. He quickly apologized and explained what happened to his Star Chips

the girl was about 14 years old and had short ginger hair and brown eyes. She wore clothing reminiscent to a cowgirl from Wild West movies. She rubbed the back of her head "I'm not sure what to say, but I can't just let a fella like you to get kicked off the island for a mishap outside of a duel..." she thought for a moment, then came up with an idea "Why don't we square off in a duel? If you win, I'll give you two of my Star Chips as if you had wagered the two you lost, but if you lose I'll have to call the island's security. Do we have a deal?"

Draco looked relieved, then accepted her challenge "Excellent, the name's Agnes Flare, by the way. I'm the Regional Champion of Australia, so don't hold anything back, 'kay?"

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

Lupe was worried. When she got back to the den, the entire place was abandoned. She calmed herself down and noted that there were no signs of a fight, so it wasn't hunters, so that was a relief. It was then that she heard footsteps from outside, then turned around - Nothing. she turned around to head to her part of the den to rest and found a man right in front of her, his face obscured by the shadows. Before Lupe could fight back, everything went dark.

A card shrouded in darkness appeared in the man's hand " **Not the best choice, but she will have to do for now.** " the man said with a distorted voice, then left with Lupe's unconscious body hanging limply over his right shoulder.

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, readers. It's been awhile since I had this large a thing of inspiration on something like this story. Also, there's another cliffhanger for you, will Draco beat Agnes or will he be taking a long trip home? find out in the next chapter of YGO-DD. Duel Standby...**


	13. Chapter 12, Truths, a Duel Against Fire!

**A/N: I'm back, and this chapter takes place during episodes 8 and 9. This chapter will have some twists to the Canon plot and the plot I made, plus maybe a few other things too. And now for the disclaimer. "I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs, all content belongs to its respective owners. It's time to Duel!**

* * *

Chapter 12, Truths Exposed; a Duel Against Fire!

* * *

Lizzie had heard of a man that fit Draco's description headed towards the wasteland area of the island ' _Leave it to Draco to wander into a completely different biome than his intended destination, this is getting ridiculous!_ ' Lizzie thought wearily as they searched said area. It wasn't that he got lost that bothered her, mind you. It's just that when she needs to find him for something, it's exceedingly difficult to locate him.

' _It doesn't help that he can barely read a map properly, I honestly have to be right there next to him to lead him to his next destination. Not that I mind that, he's actually kind of cu- wait a minute, wait a minute! where did THAT come from?_ ' she blamed Tristan and Joey constantly labelling the two as a couple constantly. She froze in place, her eyes wide with shock, Akane seemed to notice this and asked "Hey, Lizzie, what's up? You don't look so good, are you alright?"

Lizzie barely heard her friend, she was just too embarrassed to ' _They all think me and Draco are an item... Why?! Is it because we hang out so often or something else?_ ' She turned towards Akane, her face red "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" Akane sniggered "You were blushing pretty badly for a moment there, is there something you aren't telling me?" Lizzie looked at Akane, unsure what to tell Akane.

Akane, as far as Lizzie knew, was a notorious prankster that was well-known for her elaborate tricks and even her simple ones were surprisingly effective. If she told her the whole truth, she could very well use this for a prank, so she tried telling a half truth "Well... somebody has been implying that someone and someone else, not naming any names, are a couple and-"

Akane piped in "Is it you and Draco?" Lizzie looked more than a little flustered "H-h-how...?" Lizzie just didn't get it, Akane could see right through her. The very same Akane whose attention is only on something for a brief moment before flitting to another thing. Akane let out a smirk "Oh don't give me that look, it's not like it's a secret or anything. Everyone knows how close you are to each other, well everyone but you two, that is!"

the redhead giggled and Lizzie was so embarrassed and frustrated, it wasn't... "Akane, you don't understand at all! None of you do! It wouldn't work out, we're not even from-!" Lizzie started, then "... I know." Lizzie stopped her budding rant "What are you talking about, Akane?" Akane elaborated "I've watched you two from the very beginning, and I know you two aren't from this world, I know that Draco isn't human and I know what you have been through since you got to the Mythic Realms, then arrived here. I...know... *everything*!"

Lizzie was just too shocked to be mad or embarrassed. Akane knew about her and Draco, about the Mythic Realms, she knew everything that happened thus far, how!? She asked in a weak tone of voice "How did you find out? How do you know about any of this and not reject us as people and friends? We don't belong in this world, how can you treat us like we do?"

Akane tilted her head to the side, unhappy at how her friend was acting "Well that's a strange question to ask. I don't belong to this world any more than you do. Hells, the only "normal" one in our group of friends is Maki, and that's even counting your friends Yugi, Joey and whatnot." Lizzie blinked "Lizzie, I have something to show you... something I have never shown any human being in twenty years..."

Lizzie watched in astonishment as Akane's form began to blur as though reality was twisting around her. When it stopped, Lizzie was struck with awe at the sight she saw...

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

Yugi and friends had been walking across one of the roads of Duelist Kingdom when they saw one of Pegasus' thugs grabbing a teen about their age. Tristan tried to intervene, but was quickly downed by the man, who recaptured the boy despite his claims of having his Star Chips and deck stolen. Yugi and the gang had reached the boat in time to learn the appearance of the culprit; a young boy wearing a bandana to hide his face.

Joey led the way to the scene of the crime, when they were jumped by a child matching the thief's description, but he wasn't alone. another boy of about the same age category as him ran out of the bushes after him "don't rush into this, you need to plan carefully first, *then* implement your strategy. It's common sense!" the boy had teal hair and forest green eyes, he wore clothes that looked to be early Medieval European in style and carried a book bag over his shoulder.

The thief turned towards him and scoffed "Where did you even get that from?" the bluehead shrugged "I read it in a book once; "a Beginner's Guide to Battle Tactics" if I remember right." the friends watched for a moment as the two kids argued over whose idea made more sense before Yugi suggested that the thief wanted to duel him, which the bandana wearing kid confirmed as the blue haired boy shook his head, defeated.

As they began to duel, kid wagered five Star Chips, which Yugi played along with, having seemed to have caught on to something the others hadn't. the bandana kid started "I'll start by summoning the Man Eating Plant in attack position!" (Level 2, Earth. Plant. Atk/Def: 800/600) "That ends my turn, but next turn my plant will eat you alive!" Yugi drew a card then played Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1 which destroyed the kid's plant monster, reducing his life points.

The blue haired child face-palmed at the move his companion made and the words he spoke "Didn't he listen to any of my lessons? Power is all well and good, but not only was his card weaker than Yugi's dragon, but he didn't bother to play any spells or traps either." Tristan and Joey stared at the boy. There was something familiar about this boy that they couldn't quite place "If Teacher were training him, he'd likely go without dinner and have to sleep in the woods without a fire to keep him warm."

Tristan addressed the kid, starting to recognize similarities with Draco "Hey kid, do you know a guy named Draco? You sound a lot like him, you know." upon hearing Draco's name, the boy's head shot in Tristan's direction, then he smiled broadly "Know him? Of course I know him, he's my brother!" surprised that Draco had a brother, all of the people present but Yugi and the already revealed Mokuba gazed at the teal haired child.

Before anyone could ask him anything further, Mokuba had stolen two of Yugi's Star Chips and tried to run off. Luckily Yugi was able to talk some sense into him, and made a promise that they would defeat Pegasus together. They rushed to the pier to return the Star Chips on time, but the boat had been sent off early. Mokuba tried to return the stolen Star Chips, but the man had decided to knock them out of his hands into the sea along with the two Yugi lost, then abduct Mokuba again. Surprisingly enough, Draco's brother went with him without a fight...

* * *

Scene Change

* * *

Lizzie was more than a bit surprised at the true identity of her friend Akane. Akane looked much the same as before, but had fox ears instead of human ears and had a fox tail. Lizzie had read up on Japanese folklore quite often with Maki and Akane, and one subject was specifically on kitsune, fox spirits who were astoundingly good tricksters, and also said to have been faithful lovers if Lizzie remembered right. ' _That certainly explains why she seemed to enjoy reading about that subject so much, she's one of them!_ '

Akane laughed a bit then spoke again "I should have figured you'd be surprised, but did you know that kitsune were descended from unions between human and Duel Spirit lovers? The concept of a human and a Duel Spirit falling in love isn't as uncommon as one might think, many great historic leaders and heroes had Duel Spirit genes running through them and nobody even knew it."

Lizzie's eyes widened "What are you getting at? What does any of that have to do with me and Draco? We've only known each other for a bit over a month, how could we have fallen for each other without even knowing it?" the fox spirit shrugged and explained "My parents started dating a few weeks after they met, and that was over thirty years ago. It didn't matter if they'd just met or if they were entirely different species, their feelings were sincere and strong. So don't rule out the idea that you two have such feelings."

Akane threw her arm around Lizzie's shoulder and said gently "Just consider it, ok? You two may well be meant for each other, you two crossed paths in the Mythic Realms for a reason, it can't be mere coincidence." Akane let her friend go and had Lizzie promise not to tell the others about her true identity soon after resuming her disguise, and as they walked towards where Draco was reported to be, she wondered ' _Do Draco and I really have feelings for each other? I... I need time to think about this, I'm still confused about what Akane said..._ '

It was then they found Draco dueling Agnes Flare, and he wasn't doing too good. Agnes, as it turned out, used a Pyro Deck focused on both burn and beat-down tactics. Using a combination of Soul Absorbtion, Dark World Lightning, Fire Princess and Crevice into the Different Dimension, Agnes had halved Draco's life points in Draco's second turn. ' _This is bad_ ' Draco thought with a grimace 'If she gains even two more life point bonuses, I'm finished, and so are my hopes of saving my little brother...'

Lizzie called over to Draco "Draco, over here!" Draco turned just in time to catch the two Star Chips the wolf had stolen earlier that day "Lizzie, you got them back...?" Lizzie nodded and let out a huge grin "Yeah, now hurry up and win this duel so we can rejoin our friends, I know you can turn this around!" Draco lightly smiled then set to work on planning a turnaround move

' _I have Copy Knight and Jar of Greed facedown, now I just need to draw the right cards..._ ' he drew his next card, then activated Jar of Greed "I summon Marauding Captain in attack position, then activate Copy Knight to summon it as the same level a him, and use his effect to special summon Shine Knight in attack position." a familiar galaxy-like vortex appeared on the field "I overlay my three monsters in order to build the Overlay Network! Final knight of the great kingdom, I summon you to aid my quest for the truth. Xyz Summon. Knight of the Thirteenth Seat, Number P13: Galahad the White Knight!"

the knight reappeared to do battle for his new comrade in arms. Draco continued his move "I play the spell card, Twin Twisters, by discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy your Soul Absorbtion!" he sent the card he just drew to the graveyard and then activated Galahad's effect "Pendragon's Boon! by targeting itself with this effect and removing one overlay unit, I gain 1250 life points, but he cannot attack this turn." Draco's life points increased and he ended his turn (+1250 = 2250 life points).

Agnes growled and began her turn "So you stopped my burn strategy, I have more cards in my deck that can handle your knight! I summon Raging Flame Sprite in attack position!" a small fairy with a match in his hand appeared on the field (Level 3, Fire. Pyro/Effect. Atk/Def: 100/200.) "Flame Sprite, attack Draco directly with your effect!" the match in the monsters hand burst into flames and grew upon hitting Draco, increasing its attack. She set one facedown card and ended her turn.

Lizzie cheered for Draco vividly "You've got her right where you want her Draco. keep it up, I believe in you!" she put her hand to her mouth and blushed upon realizing she said "I believe" and not "we believe" and hoped he didn't notice, but judging by the embarrassed look she saw on his face, he probably did. Draco returned his focus to the duel "I'll attack your Raging Flame Sprite with my White Knight!"

just before the attack started, Agnes activated her facedown card "Trap activate, Sakuretsu Armor, with this card, your Number card is destroyed!" Draco smirked and activated Galahad's second effect "Reverse of Durendal! By removing one overlay unit, my knight can negate any card effect that targets it or would otherwise destroy it, then shuffle that card into your deck!" Galahad raised the sword Durendal at the card targeting him, and turned its own power against it, returning it to the deck.

Galahad's swords made contact with Agnes' monster and destroyed it, reducing her life points (-1400 = 600 life points.) "I'm not done yet, I rebuild the Overlay Network using my Galahad the White Knight since he only has one overlay unit. Xyz Evolution!" the vortex reappeared and a new sealed Number Card emerged, much to Lizzie's surprise

"Knight hidden from the world's gaze, come to me and erase the enemy from existence. Xyz Summon, enemy and shadow of the Noble Knights, Number P31: Garland the  
Invisible Knight!" everyone was confused at first when no monster was there when the summon ended, but then remembered he was an invisible knight and shrugged it off (Rank 4, Dark. Warrior/Xyz/Effect. Atk/Def: 1500/1000.) Agnes was insulted "You sacrificed your stronger knight for something even weaker!? what the heck is wrong with you!"

Draco laughed as Garland was muttering a string of curse words under his breath at Agnes' for her commentary "I wouldn't underestimate him, he's stronger than you think! as long as he has overlay units, Garland cannot be targeted for an attack, so I should be safe for now, your move." Agnes drew her next card " I summon Molten Behemoth in defense position, your move mate!" a golem made of magma appeared on the field and took a defensive stance (Level 5, Fire. Pyro. Atk/Def: 1000/2200.)

Akane had somehow gotten her hands on a few sodas that she and a puzzled Lizzie drank as they watched Draco duel Agnes "Draw! I summon Exiled Force, then activate its effect. By tributing Exiled Force, I can destroy your Behemoth!" a small squad of soldiers ganged up on the lava giant and destroyed it along with themselves "Next I activate Garland's effect, by removing one overlay unit, he can banish one card on the field for three turns, Distortion Knife!"

Garland tossed the Dagger of Distortion at the Fire Princess, causing her to vanish without a trace "And now for the final attack, Garland the Invisible Knight, attack her directly with Hidden Slash!" as Agnes' life points hit zero, she looked to have calmed down, perhaps she was even relieved. She gave Draco two of her Star Chips as promised and congratulated him "Well done, that was a fun duel. I look forward to seeing you in the finals!" the two shook hands and the young teen took her leave.

Lizzie ran up to Draco and gave him a light hug, which left him with a reddened face "I knew you had it in you! Let's go find our friends, they should still be in the beach and forest areas somewhere..." Akane tapped the human teen on the shoulder and pointed behind Lizzie, where Yugi and everyone else had reached them after Maki 7brought them to the wasteland regions of the island "So, uhh... did we miss something?" Lizzie quickly let go of Draco and felt as though she was going to die from embarrassment.

Draco said with an equally embarrassed look on his face "W-well, I managed to get another two Star Chips so I guess we're almost even now, huh Yugi?" Yugi looked down at the ground and explained what happened with Mokuba, Caleb and Fake Kaiba. Upon hearing that Caleb went with Pegasus men willingly, he punched the duel field "Blast it! Why would my brother do something like that? He should have tried to escape with you, but he didn't, why!?" his eyes teared up and Lizzie stared at his grief stricken eyes

' _Draco came here to save his brother! He must be devastated that Caleb left with those_ goons...' Lizzie thought sadly 'I... _I thought about what Akane said about the two of us, and I think she is right, we *do* have those kind of feelings for each other, but I can't bring myself to tell him how I feel... not while he's like this. But, I can at least help him recover from this state for now, it's the least I can do in return for his kindness._ '

Lizzie walked up to Draco "You know, you should have told me that they were holding your brother hostage, then we could've given you further support." Draco looked at his friend "But I..." Lizzie held her hand up in front of her to quiet him "You don't need to say anything more to explain, Draco. You didn't want to heap your own troubles on top of ours, and I know you enough to realize you had our best interests in mind. But please, don't shut us out next time, ok?" she said in a gentle but concerned voice.

Draco wiped the tears from his eyes and his eyes met Lizzie's _'Was Lizzie always this strong and determined? Could I truly be falling for her like everyone keeps implying? Whatever the case, I can't hide myself away from everyone forever. I need to tell them all the truth eventually, and I need to be prepared for the repercussions of those actions.'_

As the group left, Draco looked up into the sky ' _What would you do, Master Innes...?_ ' a flock of birds flew across the red skies which signaled dusk, and the group didn't seem to notice a blue haired man watching them from the top of a hill ' _Are they really the ones I am looking for? My memory has never failed me yet, but it's better to be safe than sorry..._ ' he left, a light breeze ruffling his hair as he left to fine tune his dueling skills ' _I hope she can uncover the mysteries of the Elder Ring on time, the world needs more duelists like her_ '.

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

 **A/N: The plot thickens, whoever these mysterious figures are they know a lot about Yugi, Lizzie and their friends. Akane is a character I created because it just so happens the kitsune are one of my three favorite mythological beings, the others being dragons and werewolves. Draco and Lizzie are finally starting to realize how they feel about each other, but will they be able to get together ad stay that way, or will they be in for disappointment? The next episode will take place during episodes 12 and 13. Duel Standby.**


	14. Chapter 13, Dark Spirit of the Ring

**A/N: Hello everyone and welcome back to YGO-DD. In this chapter the gang will be up against the spirit of the Millennium Ring. As always, there will be some changes to the story and perhaps a familiar face will appear. And now for the Disclaimer. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its spinoffs, If I did GX, 5Ds and the other series wouldn't have had their final seasons censored out entirely. It's time to Duel!**

* * *

Chapter 13, Dark Spirit of the Ring

* * *

The day went on with the usual dueling, with Joey beating Rex Raptor and winning not only two Star Chips, but also the powerful Red Eyes Black Dragon card. Later that night, they encountered Mai again, and they had dinner with her. Eventually she got tired of being near them and left, then somebody was rustling through the bushes. Yugi and the others were surprised when it turned out to be Ryou Bakura from school.

They all conversed with each other on which card they best identified with. Joey perceived himself as the Flame Swordsman, Tristan fancied the Cyber Commander, Téa viewed herself as the Magician of Faith and Yugi felt the same concerning the Dark Magician "What about you four? I've seen you in class, but we never really got to speak much..." Lizzie forced a smile and took out her Gagagigo card to show everyone, something didn't seem right here, and Lizzie wasn't liking it.

"Mine is the Marauding Captain, but most of you already know that." Draco said proudly. Akane looked through her deck and took out a card "Shiki, Fox Spirit Tactician, I rarely leave home without her." ' _figured as much, Akane just so happens to have a deck fitting to her true self._ ' Lizzie thought with laughter in her eyes.

Maki looked a little shy for once when she was asked to show them her favorite card, but eventually relented and showed them Kira the Lucky Magic Archivist, a card that could prevent the destruction of a monster once per turn if there were no traps in the graveyard. Then it was Bakura's turn to choose a card, which was Change of Heart, a spell card "If you want to see how it works, we could have a duel right now. Not for Star Chips, just for a little fun...

The others agreed, and while Lizzie agreed with them, she could have sworn she saw a sinister look in the white haired boy's eyes. Bakura suggested for everyone to put their favorite cards into Yugi's deck, a harmless idea, right? "Before we get started, there's something I would like to share with you all, especially you, Yugi..." he started humming a strange tune, which gave Lizzie and Draco bad vibes, and even the normal people like Joey and Tristan were getting creeped out.

When he was done a golden ring with five spike like objects hanging from it and a triangle with an eye in it at the center "No, it can't be. A Millennium Item!" Yugi said apprehensively. Bakura spoke up again, in a much darker tone of voice "Yes and with its magic I shall take us to the Shadow Realm." When asked why he was doing this he replied "You have something I want Yugi, and I intend to take it!"

a powerful surge of magic pulsed through Lizzie as her and everyone else's souls were torn out of their bodies and into cards. Bakura laughed "That wasn't too difficult, and now that their souls are locked away, the Millennium Puzzle is mine! But before he could take it, the Millennium Puzzle flashed with light and Yugi got up "You want my Millennium Puzzle? You'll have to duel me for it, and if I win, you have to send us all back!" Bakura, confident that he would win, accepted the terms, and the duel started.

after a brief conversation about the Millennium Items and the identity of "Bakura", the spirit of the Millennium Ring stated "The first move is yours" Yugi drew his hand then summoned the Cyber Commander, but to his shock Tristan appeared as his favorite card instead (Level 2, Dark. Machine. Atk/Def: 750/700) Tristan was about as shocked about this as Yugi was, only he half believed it to be a dream.

Bakura chuckled and started his turn, summoning the White Magical Hat monster, a magician in a purple tuxedo with a white and red cloak and his signature hat (Level 3, Light. Spellcaster/Effect. Atk/Def: 1000/700.) "White Magical Hat, Attack!" Tristan continued to panic as his card was destroyed. Worried, Yugi demanded to know what happened to his friend, to which Yami Bakura explained that Tristan was sent to the Graveyard then ended his turn (Yugi -250 LP = 1750.).

Yugi was afraid that he would lose his friends if he lost, but found that he had no choice but to summon Joey in the form of the Flame Swordsman (Level 5, Fire. Warrior/Fusion. Atk/Def: 1800/1600.) Joey was naturally disoriented at first, but with Yugi's help he came to his senses and gladly avenged Tristan's defeat by slicing Yami Bakura's monster in two, Yugi then ended his turn.

Yami Bakura started his next turn "I'll set one monster and place a facedown card then end my turn. Attack my monster if you dare..." he said ominously. Joey, still highly confident that he could beat the hidden monster, ignored Yugi's Warning and attacked, revealing a Morphing Jar which sent both duelists' hands to the graveyard, along with Akane's card "Oh no, I'm so sorry Yug'! now Akane's gone too..." Joey hung his head in guilt until Yugi comforted him

"Don't worry Joey, because Shiki's effect now activates; when Shiki, Fox Spirit Tactician is sent from the hand to the graveyard by an effect, I can special summon her and shuffle one card in the graveyard into the deck!" Yugi shuffled Cyber Commander into the deck and Akane appeared and yawned, stretching her limbs as though she just woke up "Well, looks like I'm up aren't I? at least I get to look a bit more like ma in this getup..." Yugi blinked and Joey voiced his thoughts (Level 4, Light. Spellcaster/Spirit/Effect. Atk/Def: 1050/1200.)

"Aren't you at all surprised about this, Akane? we're stuck in another world as our favorite cards, and from what Yugi said this game's gonna be dangerous!" the red haired girl laughed and said "You kidding me? Being stuck in this body makes me feel so alive! Hey Yugi, Use my effect to summon one of our friends, would you? You won't regret it!" She grinned toothily. (Level 4, Light. Spellcaster/Spirit/Effect. Atk/Def: 1050/1200.)Yugi nodded in agreement, but waited for his opponent to take his turn.

Bakura's Turn started and ended with him placing another facedown monster and facedown spell or trap when Yugi decided to make his next move "I activate Shiki's effect, by returning her to the hand I can special summon one level three or lower monster from my hand or deck to the field, come out, Marauding Captain!" Akane was replaced with Draco's human form dressed as the Marauding Captain "You called, Yugi?" (Level 3, Earth. Warrior/Effect. Atk/Def: 1200/400.) Yugi acknowledged his friend and continued his turn

"I activate Shiki's third effect; by revealing her card in my hand, I can trade in one monster on the field for another in my hand with a level equal to or less than the returned monster's level plus two. Come forth, Gagagigo" Draco blinked then his eyes widened "What? oh gods no, not that! dangiiiiiit!" he returned to the hand and Draco's monster form appeared, but something was a bit off...

* * *

Lizzie's POV

* * *

It was the most awkward feeling I have had yet. Unlike my friends, who had no contact with their duel spirits besides using and believing in their cards, I have a close connection to the Duel Spirit World and its inhabitants, especially Draco. As a result, not only was I trapped in my best friend's body, I also was sharing every thought, feeling and emotion we each had at the time between the two of our souls.

Then there's the embarrassing fact that we both were too nervous to admit our true feelings for each other. With every thought passing between us, every detail about that subject became crystal clear to both of us; we now not only know each other better than anyone, we can now confirm that one fact. We both love the other more than anything in all the worlds, consequences be da**ed. Perhaps we knew it all along; we were destined to meet, to become friends and eventually fall for each other.

We will always be together, through good, bad and hard times... forever... We both knew it and embraced it.

* * *

Normal POV

* * *

After a short while, Lizzie's voice came from the reptilian monster "Sorry for the wait, what's going on guys?" Yugi explained the situation to her and she chuckled good-naturedly "Is it just me or do we keep getting into these weird supernatural situations on a regular basis? Hey Yugi, could you summon the Dark Magician to help us? I know he's in your hand so please hurry it up!" Yugi looked at his favorite card and reluctantly played it.

This was where things got confusing with everyone. Yugi appeared as the Dark Magician, but his body kept dueling like he wasn't trapped in a card "If you're here, then who's that up there?" Joey asked, Yugi started "Well, I don't know..." the other Yugi urged "Don't you?" then Yugi continued "Well I have noticed that sometimes when I duel it feels like someone is guiding me" the second Yugi nodded in confirmation "And sometimes I hear a strong voice coming from my Puzzle... an ancient powerful voice."

Joey looked a little surprised, and so did Lizzie, although she had a better time processing what her friend said "I'm not sure what this is about, but I think we can trust him!" he finished, and her friends agreed. Yugi/Dark Magician attacked the facedown monster, but it turned out to be another Morphing Jar, resulting in their hands being discarded. Yugi unfortunately couldn't save Akane this time, as there were no monsters in the graveyard this time. They could only hope that she would be okay after the duel was over.

Yami Bakura set another facedown monster then played Just Desserts, taking five hundred life points from Yugi for each of his monsters (-1500 LP= 200.) he ended his turn and let Yugi start his turn. He set Magician of Faith, Téa's card, facedown. Everyone explained to her as best they could about their current problem. Yugi/Dark Magician attacked the facedown card and destroyed it, but it turned out to be the Electric Lizard, paralyzing him for the time being. Yugi placed a facedown card and ended his turn.

Bakura next openly announced that he would set Man Eater Bug facedown, then ended his turn Yugi explained what the card does and the facedown card the other Yugi played, but in the end, Joey sacrificed himself so Horn of Heaven could activate. Téa used her effect to add Monster Reborn to Yugi's hand so he could revive Joey. After that, Bakura's turn started.

"I summon Lady of Faith in attack position, then play monster reborn to bring back an old friend of yours. rise, Skilled Red Magician, or rather Michael Nidhoggr!" Everyone was shocked that they would have to face their lost friend again in combat. When he emerged, Michael looked confusedly at Joey "Joey, what are all of you doing here?" he glared venomously at Bakura "You said you would use me against Pegasus, not my friends you liar!" he accused.

Yami Bakura chuckled darkly "Yes I did say that, but I never said I wouldn't use you before then, did I? Skilled Red Magician, attack Magician of Faith and end this!" everyone half expected him to attack against his will, but the Tartarus Shackles glowed ominously, signifying Yami Michael's appearance, and he was absolutely livid "Bakura, you made the worst mistake possible! In manipulating that brat Michael, you were using me as well, and I resent that greatly, so guess what?"

The Tartarus Shackles glowed white hot with heat as time and space distorted around the spirit of the shackles, placing him on Yugi's side of the field "I've decided to place my bet on these whelps, you filthy soul thief!" everyone gaped at the spirit's apparent change of heart until he noticed and snapped "Let's make one thing straight; I am still going to hunt you down and destroy you, I'm only helping because I currently hate this thief more than I do you, are we clear!?"

the group uneasily agreed with him, but then Bakura continued his turn "It doesn't matter how many of you are on the field, your time is up. I play the spell card; Change of Heart, which allows me to take control of one of your monsters for a turn, turning you against each other. And I choose you, Yugi!"

Bakura was apparently sealed in his favorite card as well, much to Yugi and friends' surprise. Ryou rushed towards the Lady of Faith "I want to help, but we must act quickly Yugi!" Ryou merged with the monster, taking control of it "I've taken control of one of his monsters instead!" both Yami Bakura and the Yugi were genuinely shocked at this, the former more so

"I'll control her while you attack me... you can defeat the evil Bakura!" Yugi flat out refused to destroy his friend, and Lizzie actually felt bad for Ryou, realizing it wasn't him she was afraid of, but the Millennium Ring's spirit. Ryou stated how he would rather be destroyed than be a slave to the Ring Spirit and begged him to attack, but Yugi's counterpart had another idea as his Puzzle shone with light

"Your Millennium Ring can steal souls and trap them in cards, so I bet my Millennium Puzzle can return them to where they belong!" Yami Bakura and Ryou Bakura had switched places when the light dispersed "This can't be!" Yami Bakura/Lady of Faith cried out before Yugi struck him down with Dark Magic Attack, sending him screaming to the graveyard.

* * *

Scene Change, the Graveyard

* * *

 _'_ _I had been so close to acquiring the Millennium Puzzle, it was almost mine! Now look at the mess I'm in..._ ' Yami Bakura roamed through the graveyard for what seemed like hours when he came across a very strange sight. The girl, Akane, was still alive after being stuck in the graveyard for so long. And to top It all off, she had apparently been playing Twenty-One with the Reaper of Cards the whole time.

Before he could sneak away, Akane looked towards him, then back at the Reaper "Hey Ripley, you know that thirty ninth favor you owe me? Could you reap this scrub's sorry a** for me please? He's a waste of space in your home, you know?" she grinned deviously at the spirit of the ring as he screamed prior to getting slashed by the Reaper's scythe then disappeared.

Akane pouted "awww, he escaped, he's no fun... Oh well, same time as always Rip?" the Reaper silently agreed, then waved farewell as Akane vanished as well.

* * *

Scene Change, Normal POV

* * *

Everyone had woken up by now, except for Akane, and while Michael had not shown up after the Shadow Duel, they weren't too worried about him with his dark half protecting him. Lizzie was afraid she had lost another friend for good, that is until a foxfire shot into Akane's body. She woke up almost immediately "He didn't want me..." she mocked cried, then everyone shared a laugh at that. Maki was relieved that she didn't have to be used in the Shadow Duel, while later Lizzie and Draco were nowhere to be seen.

They were actually out by the sea discussing what happened. Lizzie was gazing out at the waves "You know, that whole mess with Bakura opened my eyes on a lot of things." Draco stood there with his arms folded, his eyes never looking away from Lizzie "Really? How so, Liz?" he queried. Lizzie picked up a stone and tossed it into the sea "Well for starters, I had always felt uncomfortable around Bakura for some reason I could never place, but it turned out he was just possessed by an evil spirit. He's really not that bad."

Draco agreed with this but was convinced that this wasn't all she had to say "I guess The thing I realized the most is..." she started when Draco, know what she would say responded "I... love you too, Lizzie." Tears of joy fell from Lizzie's eyes, then the two hugged each other tightly for a minute or so before letting go. Draco was the first to speak "Well, I guess we should make us being a couple official, but how... say, maybe we can have a date after this tournament is over, sound good?"

Lizzie agreed joyfully, then said with a cheeky grin "I guess we should tell the others the news, huh Draco?" the teal haired youth nodded his head and said "Aye, and I have something else to tell them as well. something I should have done a month ago..." Lizzie knew what he was about to say, but listened anyway "I have to tell them everything, about me and where we both came from. It's not safe for them to not know anymore, Bakura's Millennium Ring Spirit proved that much.

And so the newly formed couple went to tell their friends the news, and the truth about their origins. Joey and Tristan were outright amazed at the fact that they were friends with a real, living Duel Monster Spirit and while Téa was surprised that Lizzie came from a parallel world, it only made them even closer friends. And everyone congratulated the two of them on finally getting together.

Then they heard Mai scream in fear, so they rushed to her aid as fast as they could.

* * *

Chapter End

* * *

 **A/N: There's another chapter for you. And it is now confirmed that there will be shipping between Lizzie and Draco. As always, I don't know when I'll update again, though I will try to get it done as soon as I am able. Thank you for reading! Duel Standby...**


End file.
